Charges in funeral home brawl

BY STAN MADDUX

Two people have been charged in connection with the firing of a gun during a large fight at a La Porte funeral home.

Alfredo Villano, 43, is charged in LaPorte Circuit Court with level 6 felony criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon.

Jaszmin Morris, 39, is charged with LaPorte Superior Court 3 with Class A misdemeanor battery.

According to court documents, police just after 10 a.m. on July 28 were dispatched to Frank Keisei Funeral Home Essling Chapel at 1117 Indiana Avenue.

A large number of people were there to pay their respects to a loved one.

According to court documents, the three women involved in the fighting had been carrying out a dispute on Facebook for several days.

Video surveillance provided by the funeral home shows Morris walking up to a large crowd and swinging her fists at the entrance to the building, according to court documents. She then allegedly struck a woman in the face.

The victim bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth told police Morris then another woman kept hitting her in the face and head area.

Things escalated when some people trying to break up the fight landed some blows and others rushing over engaged in shoving and yelling, police said.

At one point, Villano in the funeral home parking lot pointed a gun in the air and fired one shot to try and break up the altercation, court documents revealed.

The crowd of 30 people or more began thinning out but still were engaged in a lot of yelling and finger pointing as police officers began arriving.

Villano of LaPorte and Morris of Michigan City have since posted bond.