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Jury finds Griffith man guilty in case where he shot his best friend
A jury late Thursday evening found a Griffith man guilty in the attempted murder of his former best friend.
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A jury late Thursday evening found a Griffith man guilty in the attempted murder of his former best friend.
Aaron Belcher will be sentenced March 7 for shooting Aaron Swelfer in the head in 2023, Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Keith Anderson told the Post-Tribune. Along with attempted murder, Belcher, 37, was also found guilty of aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon in the shooting.
Anderson told the jury during closing arguments that whatever Belcher said on the stand earlier, they needed to look at his actions before, during and after the shooting to know that he was guilty. After Belcher discovered Swelfer was sleeping with his former girlfriend, heâd sent messages disparaging the two and in one sequence said âIâll fix this problem.â
âAfter the shooting, he takes Gabrielleâs (Shea, the mother of his daughter) phone, so she couldnât call 911, and then leads police on a high-speed chase and hides out in the woods. He never told police heâd been assaulted,â Anderson said. âThen, about a year after it happened â a year of reflection â he writes a letter to Gabby and tells her Swelferâs â(expletive) shouldâve known I donât play thatâ and ⊠that I hope heâs brain dead for the rest of his miserable life,â but on the stand, he said heâs ânot that mad about it.â
âItâs not self-defense. He shot someone in the head, then never called 911 to say heâd been attacked. He shot him in pure rage.â
Swelfer was left with bullet fragments in his head, a traumatic brain injury, profound short-term and long-term memory loss. He didnât know what year it was or his own address.
Anderson also noted that when Lake County Detective Joseph Hardiman was gathering information from Belcher during questioning, Belcher sounded surprised when Hardiman told him he was charged with attempted murder, a point Belcherâs attorney James Woods tried to limit with Lake County Judge Salvador Vasquez before the jury came back from lunch.
âYou have to decide if (Belcher) engaged in self-defense, and you have three questions: Do you think Aaron Belcher was scared? Was it reasonable for him to be scared? And did he act appropriately?â Woods said. âHe was in a place he had a right to be in, and when does his right to self-defense start? The prosecution says he shot him with his daughter in the house, but is the alternative letting his daughter find him dead with a knife in his chest?â
Woods also referenced police cam footage of Swelfer lying in the grass, his head bandaged and bleeding, talking with officers and smoking. Swelfer initially told police his name was âRyan.â
Woods went on and told the jury that the prosecution didnât ask bullet trajectory questions of the Lake County gun expert when he was on the stand, because then they wouldâve had to acknowledge there was a bullet hole in a window that had been shot from the outside. Anderson showed on the projector that the screen behind the bullet hole wasnât punctured, however, so it couldnât have been related to Belcher shooting Swelfer.
âItâs easy to Monday-morning quarterback. Itâs easy to talk about what shouldâve been done,â Anderson said in his rebuttal.
Earlier on Thursday, Belcher took the stand in his own defense.
The two men met while in prison, Belcher told the jury. Belcher was serving time for burglary, and Swelfer was there for aggravated battery.
After Belcher and Swelferâs releases, the two kept in touch and were in the rooferâs union together. Swelfer moved in with Belcher and his then-girlfriend, Gabrielle Shea.
Belcher and Shea had an on-and-off again relationship, and they had a child together. After they split up for the final time, Shea and Swelfer grew closer, and Belcher believed they were in a relationship.
The three still lived together after the couple broke up, Belcher said Thursday, and things became awkward. He believes Swelfer stayed longer than expected.
Before the shooting, the defendant still had a key and was gradually getting his stuff out of the house, Shea said.
As Belcher spent less time at the home, he noticed ammunition, paraphernalia and cigarettes throughout the home.
âI still struggled with addiction,â Belcher told the jury, âbut I never wouldâve done that in front of (my daughter).â
Anderson asked Belcher about his substance use at the time, and Belcher said he used marijuana daily and cocaine on the weekends. Anderson also asked Belcher about a âsmoking device for marijuanaâ that was in Belcherâs truck when he went to pick up his daughter.
Belcher told Anderson he planned to move the device into the bed of his truck.
Belcher claimed Swelfer threatened him with a knife about two days before the shooting. He went to the house to see his daughter and said it looked like Swelfer and Shea were having a party. Belcher said he was concerned about his daughter, so he and Shea began arguing.
Three days before the shooting, Swelfer admitted their relationship to Belcher. Shea told police that Belcher was angry that they broke up two weeks earlier.
While the ex-couple argued, Swelfer paced between the kitchen and dining room with a knife. Belcher then left the house, he said, and didnât return until a couple days later to see his daughter. He brought a gun because he felt his âlife was in danger.â
âIf he came at me and stabbed me, I had nothing to defend myself except a pocket knife,â Belcher said.
Multiple police agencies responded just before 2 p.m. Aug. 2, 2023 to the 1100 block of E. Highway 330 in unincorporated Griffith for a reported assault with a firearm, the Post-Tribune previously reported. They saw Shea screaming for help from a window.
She said Belcher took off in a red truck.
Officers found Swelfer shot lying in front of a back housing unit, charges state. He was bleeding heavily, shot in the head and arm. He had his shirt wrapped around his head.The woman told police Belcher lived with her and was angry after they broke up two weeks earlier. That day, he reportedly argued with Swelfer in the kitchen before the shooting. She was in a bedroom dressing her and Belcherâs daughter, then 4.
âYouâre not going to break up my family,â Belcher reportedly told the man.
The victim said Belcher maced him before opening fire.
âYou canât call 911, Iâm not going back to prison,â Belcher told Shea. Staff writer Meredith Colias-Pete contributed.Â
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.Â
mwilkins@chicagotribune.com
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