live at the hammond police station with the latest on the investigation. >> this is a big story unraveling out here in northwest indiana. the mayor of gary the big news in terms of the investigation coming a few moments ago from the hand police department. darren van. >> 43 years old. he comes from gary. had been living in texas about 10 years ago. a convicted sex offender from austin texas. all this began to unravel at the hotel and hammond. when the victim. the first victim was found as identified as africa party. her body was found there. identified by authorities as a prostitute. somebody he hired on the backpage web site. >> and she failed to check and with her female pimp that person became concerned. >> hammond police then got her phone with his phone number. through various means tracked him to his carry residents. he was taken into custody. they say he started talking. almost as if he wanted to get caught and take this tremendous burden off of his shoulder. to date, seven victims. there may be more. wrapping up the press conference just a few moments ago. here's what they're sayin

>> reporter: the hammond incident in late september comes at the same time police dash cam video appeared showing a south carolina police officer shooting an unarmed man at a gas station. >> get out of the car. >> why did you shoot me? >> reporter: levar jones was shot in the hip. the officer charged with aggravated assault and battery. just this year, the pew research project found that 90% of adults own a cell phone and more and more confrontations with police are being videotaped. in ferguson, missouri, cell phone video recorded the aftermath of the death of michael brown and the protests that followed. >> look at what's happening with twitter around the ferguson, missouri, the uprest in ferguson, it was everywhere. it was on facebook, it was on twitter. now i think there's just more access to technology, and it's so easy to get things to go viral. >> reporter: as technology advances, the police and the public are making sure they have the pictures to make their case. kevin tibbles, nbc news. >>> and still ahead for us tonight, speaking of technology, the surprise findings about all the hands-free technology in the car that's supposed to help you stay focused at th

station. last october, in new mexico, a minivan with children inside is pelted with gunfire. in a written statement, hammond police claimed jamal jones refused to exit the vehicle after several requests. they say fearing the occupants of the vehicle may have possessed a firearm the passenger was removed and placed under arrest. >> they pulled a gun out. what was the purpose of a gun? >> the couple's attorney dana curts said two of the officers involved had prior lawsuits including excessive force and the couple have now filed their own lawsuit. >> tell us what you think of this video and how the police handled the situation. go to our abc 7 facebook page to see the entire video and weigh in with your opinion. that should be quite a talker. that's it for abc news at 4:00. abc 7 news at 5:00 starts right now. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> breaking news is first at 5:00 tonight after a u.s. marshall found a loaded hand gun on an inmate already in custody. >> the weapon was found in the suspect's underwear just moments before he was due to face a judge. we'll go live it outside d

>> reporter: the hammond incident in late september comes at the same time police dash cam video appeared showing a south carolina police officer shooting an unarmed man at a gas station. >> get out of the car. >> why did you shoot me? >> reporter: lavar jones was shot in the hip. the officer charged with dwrafted assault and battery. just this year, the pew research project found that 90% of adults own a cell phone and more and more confrontations with police are being videotaped. in ferguson, missouri, cell phone video recorded the aftermath of the death of michael brown and the protests that followed. >> look at what's happening with twitter around the ferg son, missouri, the uprest in ferguson, on facebook, twitter. now more access to technology and it's so easy to get things to go viral. >> reporter: as technology advances, the police and the public are making sure they have the pictures to make their case. kevin tibbles, nbc news. >>> and still ahead for us tonight, speaking of technology, the surprise findings about all the hands-free technology in the car that's supposed to help you stay focused at the wheel and how it could make driving more dangerous. >>> an