East Chicago Man Convicted in 2022 Gary Road Rage Shooting That Left Trucker Seriously Wounded
GARY — A Lake County jury has found 34-year-old Paul Sloat of East Chicago guilty in connection with a violent road-rage shooting that occurred on August 29, 2022, along U.S. 20 (Melton Road) in Gary.
The verdict, announced Friday by Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter, follows a detailed investigation by the Gary Police Department that linked Sloat to the broad-daylight shooting of 64-year-old truck driver Donald Munson outside the INDOT facility on Melton Road.
According to court records and investigative affidavits, officers were dispatched around 8:07 a.m. to the Indiana Department of Transportation facility at 7601 Melton Road, where Munson had pulled in after being shot in the chest while driving his semi-truck. Munson told police he had been stopped at a red light at Melton Road and Lake Street when a red Ford Edge pulled up behind him and two men exited the SUV, yelling about a traffic dispute.
One of the men, described as wearing a red shirt, climbed onto the truck’s driver-side door and opened fire, shattering glass and striking Munson in the upper chest. Despite his injuries, Munson managed to drive to the INDOT lot for help. Paramedics rushed him to Methodist Hospital, where doctors discovered a bullet lodged in his shoulder near the humerus.
Investigators recovered six spent .45-caliber casings at the scene and multiple surveillance videos showing two men confronting the truck before gunfire erupted.
License-plate-reader data led detectives to a red 2014 Ford Edge registered to Paul Sloat at an address on Magoun Street in East Chicago. Detectives conducted surveillance at the residence and detained Sloat after he approached officers outside the building.
During questioning, Sloat admitted involvement, telling police that he “got upset because a truck cut him off with his dad in the car.” Officers later recovered a Smith & Wesson .45-caliber handgun from a safe inside the apartment after Sloat and his mother provided written consent for the search.
Sloat’s father also admitted to police that his son had fired the weapon after an argument over a broken side mirror. Neither man reported the shooting to law enforcement following the incident.
Following a multi-year court process, prosecutors secured convictions on the following counts:
• Attempted Murder (Level 1 Felony)
• Aggravated Battery (Level 3 Felony)
• Battery by Means of a Deadly Weapon (Level 5 Felony)
• Battery Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury (Level 5 Felony)
Prosecutor Carter commended Deputy Prosecutors Judy Massa and Lauren Lanham for their “outstanding work and dedication,” and thanked Detective Douglas Drummond and Gary Police Department officers for their investigative efforts and testimony that helped secure the conviction.
Sloat is scheduled to be sentenced on December 4, 2025, in Lake County Superior Court.
