An Indianapolis man is facing a murder charge for fatally shooting his uncle’s friend in Gary as they were riding in a van after a night of drinking.

       Ivan Malone, 25, was charged Aug. 4 in the June 2, 2019, death of Ervin F. Pirtle, 49, of Gary, according to court records. Charges were unsealed Aug. 19 after he was arrested.

       He is being held without bond.

       A Gary detective said he met up with officers around 2 a.m. June 2, 2019, at the 500 block of Ohio Street where a man was in the street covered by a sheet.

       A witness said he was driving a van carrying Malone, Pirtle and Malone’s uncle after getting food at a nearby Shark’s Fish & Chicken when he heard a “firework.” He looked over and Malone, a front passenger, was shooting at Pirtle, sitting behind the driver’s seat.

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       “You shot me,” Pirtle said. Malone fired more shots.

       The driver said he tried to get the gun away from Malone, then veered off the road. He believed Malone had a semi-automatic weapon and would shoot him, too, he said.

       At some point, Malone escaped and they didn’t know where he went. The remaining men drove toward the hospital and flagged down a nearby Gary patrol car.

       Neither witness in the van could say what appeared to provoke the shooting. The driver told police the group had “several drinks,” sharing two water bottles filled with vodka and a couple beers.

       Lake County Coroner’s Office pathologist Dr. Zhuo Wang told detectives that Pirtle had six bullet wounds that exited his body, according to court records, including in his left forearm and upper-mid spine.

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       It was consistent with someone fired at a down angle, he said.

       Two different bullet sizes were found in the van, 9 mm and .22 caliber, police said. A revolver was recovered, but a semi-automatic weapon was not found, the affidavit states.

       The Gary detective went to Indianapolis in October 2019 where he and another detective tried to go to Malone’s mother’s house, but she wasn’t home.

       The woman filed a police report in surrounding Marion County on June 4, 2019, saying Malone threatened to kill her, his brother and himself, the affidavit states. He was “bi-polar” and “schizophrenic” she said in the report. He was transported to the hospital to be evaluated, according to police.

       She later told the Gary detective over the phone that she noticed her son had a “chemical imbalance” starting a few years prior, but declined to elaborate.

       His formal appearance in Lake Superior Court is set Tuesday before Judge Natalie Bokota.

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