A Hammond man got 30 years in prison Thursday after admitting he shot a driver dead in July 2023 inside a minivan.
Keith Johnson, 25, pleaded guilty in June to voluntary manslaughter in the July 29, 2023, death of Frank Pulling, court records show.
During the hearing, a woman who spoke on the stand in Pulling’s memory was escorted out by a pair of court security officers after her remarks grew gradually heated, calling Johnson a “coward” on the way out.
“I can’t wait for you to go to jail,” she said moments earlier, “so you can go to hell.”
Judge Gina Jones told Pulling’s other loved ones to remain calm, but reminded them of courtroom etiquette.
“I know this is very difficult,” she said, later adding, “Had I known, she wouldn’t have been allowed to speak at all.”
Deputy Prosecutor Lindsey Lanham said Pulling’s death had a “great impact” on his family.
Defense lawyer Adam Tavitas told Jones “a lot” of effort went into the plea deal.
In brief remarks, Johnson acknowledged his words likely “don’t really matter” to the victim’s family. He asked Jones to “allow me to rehabilitate myself.”
After the hearing, a relative emphasized that the woman asked to leave was grieving.
Other loved ones said Pulling was a protector and playful. One said his death was “very unfair,” while others added he left behind a son.
While five people drove to Hammond, the men noticed Johnson was carrying a gun. That sparked an argument with Frank Pulling, 25, of Chicago, who was “on papers” — on probation— for a gun charge.
He didn’t want to be pulled over and go back to jail, according to court documents.
Pulling would drop Johnson back off at the home of a woman in the minivan who lived in Hammond, so he could take an Uber home. He agreed to stop by a liquor store on the way home, where Johnson made a purchase.
Store video showed Johnson had a gun on his right hip.
On the way back, Johnson pulled out the gun and shot Pulling, the driver, in the back of the head, according to court documents.
Johnson appeared to turn the gun on the woman’s boyfriend, shooting him in the left shoulder. The man was also wounded in the right thigh, but he later told police he didn’t know how that happened, because his adrenaline was running high.
Johnson was also wounded.
In court papers, former Deputy Prosecutor John Holmen noted the woman in the van had to be compelled to come to court to testify during the bail hearings after she previously “failed to appear.”
She then testified she was “on her phone” and “did not directly observe the shooting,” but heard a gunshot and “did not know who shot” Pulling inside the vehicle, he wrote.