2 Gary men to plead guilty in slaying of delivery driver

HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) - Two Gary men have agreed to plead guilty to federal charges in the slaying of a pizza delivery driver and admit that they lured the man to an abandoned house for a planned robbery.

Terryante A. Flournoy, 22, and Ciontay J. Wright, 21, signed plea agreements Wednesday under which both will plead guilty to attempted robbery, with Flournoy also pleading guilty to possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony.

The pair signed the plea agreements a week before they were scheduled to stand trial on murder and attempted robbery charges in the fatal November 2019 shooting of David J. Shelton, 30, of Portage.

The U.S. Attorney's office has agreed to drop murder charges against the pair in exchange for their guilty pleas. Prosecutors will in turn recommend that they receive more lenient prison sentences.

Flournoy and Wright are prepared to admit in open court that they called Luigi's Pizza for a pizza delivery to an abandoned house in Gary's Glen Park neighborhood and that Flournoy fatally shot Shelton during a planned robbery, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.

The two men said they ran from the scene without obtaining any money from Shelton.

No hearing date had been scheduled as of Thursday morning for their formal change of plea.

Their plea agreements state that a federal judge in Hammond may sentence Wright to between 15 and 25 years, and Flournoy to between 25 and 40 years of imprisonment.