Gary police on Monday were investigating a fatal shooting of a man inside his auto shop.
Officers were called to the 1100 block of Chase Street at about 11:30 a.m. after a customer discovered the shop owner shot.
Antonio Tolbert, 41, was discovered laying on the ground unresponsive with a gunshot wound when officers arrived and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tolbert's mother, Mary Tolbert-Lewis, said she always worried about her son working alone in the shop he dreamed of owning since he was 13.
"It's so bad now ... everywhere," Tolbert-Lewis said. "I don't understand why someone would do this to my son."
Tolbert's loved ones said he was the backbone of the family and a respected entrepreneur in the community who had hopes of expanding his business.
"If anybody needed something done to their vehicle he was always the one to help people out. He never did nothing to nobody," the victim's sister, Sonja Tolbert, said.
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Tolbert-Lewis said she will not rest until the person who did this to her son is brought to justice.
"I'm not mad at you ... God has the last word, but God has the last say, but you need to have the faith and courage to turn yourself in," Tolbert-Lewis said.
Tolbert's death came on the same day Gary appointed a new police chief and announced a new crime-fighting strategy.
No suspects were in custody by late Monday night.
