Joliet man charged with killing 21-year-old Walmart employee in Hammond

All right, it is 11:53 on your Friday, and you know what? Sometimes things don't go as planned. That's life. What do you do? You move on. You keep on trucking. We've got to loop you on a lot of stuff this afternoon. Let's start with a man in Joliet accused of shooting and killing a woman inside a Walmart she was working at. He will stay in jail. Gabriela Primus has been following this one all morning long. She's joining us now live after that hearing wrapped. Gabby, what can you tell us? Yeah, well, that 22-year-old you're talking about is our Joliet man you're talking about is 22-year-old Dorian Robertson, and yes, he's appeared in front of a Lake County judge for the first time in his initial appearance, and the last time we talked was just about what, an hour ago, and I was waiting to hear if Robertson would ask the judge any questions, and it looked like he didn't, but also the computer buffered because he did meet over Zoom rather than in person at the Lake County courthouse. He was ordered to remain behind bars without bail and was also appointed a public defender. He's accused of killing a young woman inside a Walmart in Hammond earlier this week, the one on Fifth Avenue there. According to court documents, Robertson went to the store when 21-year-old Dakota Norwood was working. Court records say that surveillance footage lays out what happened. Guys, I've said this before. I'm going to leave out some of the details here because it really is disturbing. And mind you, this all unfolded at 9 o'clock in the morning in the aisles of Walmart. Surveillance video shows Robertson following Norwood as she stocked shelves. She was ignoring him, but it ultimately led to an argument and a physical struggle near a rolling cart. During that fight, a handgun fell from Robertson and onto the floor. A co-worker briefly intervened and separated the two. Robertson, though, picked up the gun, approached Norwood, and shot her at close range and continued shooting. An off-duty officer working security at the store heard the shots, rushed right in, and managed to get control of Robertson without him hurting anyone else. Robertson is now facing a formal murder charge. When police questioned him, he admitted that he had an on-and-off relationship with Dakota, but he says he can't remember what unfolded during the time of the shooting because he claimed that he hit his head during that fight. Well... Investigators say that excuse doesn't necessarily line up because they saw the surveillance footage themselves and did not see him hit his head. You know, if convicted of murder, he could face up to 45 to 65 years in prison. The absolute minimum for murder in Indiana is 45 years. So we'll be following this case obviously very closely, guys, as we look forward to other sentencing hearings here. I will send it back to you. You know, it's always hard talking about another young life lost in an incident that I think could have been avoided. But we'll continue to keep you updated. Gabby, thank you.