Gary, Indiana

From the Gary Post-Tribune of March 13, 2007

Gary man shot breaking into bar

Bosco Jones said he had no choice but to shoot the intruder trying to break into his bar Sunday morning.

"If he got inside, he would have had to kill me because I knew him," Jones, 82, told the Post-Tribune on Monday.
Maurice Henderson, 44, was shot outside the Zanzibar Lounge at 5639 W. 5th Ave. about 7:20 a.m., police said.

Detective Lorenzo Davis presented evidence to the Lake County prosecutor's office Monday for review, but said he expected Henderson's death will be ruled a justifiable homicide.

"He had a big stick he was using to pull the bars off the window," Davis said. "It looks like he was trying to get to the cash register."

Jones said he was in the basement preparing his liquor order for the week when he heard glass break upstairs.

"I knew someone was trying to get in, so I came up and he was was pulling off the bars. I yelled for him to stop, but it looked like the more I yelled the more he beared down," Jones recalled.

Jones said he met Henderson one day last week when he came in with his brother. "I know his brother, he's an alley mechanic," Jones said.

Henderson inquired about doing work at the bar. "But he didn't want a job, he was casing the place," Jones said Monday.

Until a few days ago, Jones drove a white station wagon that was parked outside the bar, he said. But last week he bought a van. Jones said the intruder may have thought he wasn't in the building when he tried to get inside.

"But every Sunday morning I make out my liquor order downstairs in the office," he said.

Henderson was shot with Jones' .38-caliber handgun. Jones was questioned and released by police after the shooting.

The Zanzibar was open for business Monday.