COURTS

Bond hearing set for suspect charged with murder in 11-year-old South Bend shooting death

Greg Swiercz
South Bend Tribune
T'yon Horston was shot and killed Thursday, April 20, 2023. The South Bend resident was 11.

SOUTH BEND — A bond hearing for the suspect charged with murder in the April 20 shooting death of T'yon Horston has been set for July 7.

Dominick Williams Jr., 18, appeared Thursday before St. Joseph County Superior Court Judge Jeff Sanford with attorney Jeff Kimmell. Williams is being held in the St. Joseph County Jail without bond after he was apprehended in Fishers, Ind., on May 22 after St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter had issued a warrant for Williams' arrest on a murder charge and a firearm enhancement charge for the April 20 shooting death of T'yon, 11, in the 600 block of North Johnson Street.

Kimmell, in seeking the bond hearing on Thursday, said the evidence presented in court documents was largely circumstantial and was the basis of his request for establishing a bond for Williams.

Dominick Williams Jr.

Sanford then set the matter for a hearing on July 7.

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According to court documents filed when charges were sought, officers were called to the 600 block of Johnson Street at about 5 p.m. April 20 and found T'yon with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to Memorial Hospital, where he later died.

Witnesses reportedly told police a Black male wearing all black clothing and a black ski mask had been in the alley across the street from where T'yon was found and he was carrying a rifle shortly after the gunshots were heard.Witnesses told police a Black male wearing a red jacket returned fire.

After the exchange, court documents say, witnesses said the man in black clothing left in a white Dodge Charger going north.

Documents say that a few minutes after the shooting, a white Dodge Charger broke down in the 2100 block of North Johnson Street. Witnesses reportedly saw a Black male subject dressed in black clothing run from the vehicle carrying firearms, including a rifle.

The male in black reportedly ran between houses and was later picked up by a white SUV, according to court documents.

The owner of the Charger was found after she reported the vehicle stolen a short time after the homicide and was in Indianapolis at the time of the shooting.

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The affidavit says Williams was named as the only other person that drove that vehicle, and evidence was located that showed the vehicle had been at his father’s house a short time before the homicide.

Investigators said Williams' cellphone number was found through his mother’s call detail records. The records reportedly place his cellphone in the area of the homicide at the time of the homicide and in the area where the white Charger broke down.

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.