Two Hammond men face murder charges after two 18-year-olds were found shot in the head in an alley — another body count in communities where progressive prosecutors and soft-on-crime policies have left ordinary Americans burying their young instead of walking safe streets.

Tayjuan Hall, 19, and Daiyvon Upshaw-Howard, 20, each face two counts of murder in the Oct. 3 killings of Tyrone Wade, 18, and Elijah Higgins, 18, according to the Chicago Tribune. Hammond police responded to a double homicide call in an alley in the 800 block of Truman Street that afternoon. Both victims had gunshot wounds to the head.

Neither victim was armed. No firearms were found on Wade or Higgins — just cellphones in their pockets, court records state. Several spent 9mm casings littered the alley entrance on Maywood Avenue.

The investigation turned on surveillance footage, license plate readers, and one suspect's spectacularly bad judgment. A witness described a light-skinned black man in a light blue jacket firing from the 900 block of Michigan Street before fleeing to a waiting tan Buick Enclave with a partial Indiana plate. Surveillance from a nearby business captured the sequence: a man in a white and blue hoodie exited the Buick's passenger side, walked toward the alley, pulled a black handgun, fired several rounds, then jumped back in the vehicle and fled south.

License plate readers traced the Buick to a north Hammond Walmart earlier that day. Security footage showed a man matching the suspect's description walking the store with a large afro visible. A Walmart employee recognized him as co-worker Tayjuan Hall.

The next day, Hall reported for his shift — having cut off his afro in what court records describe as an attempt to alter his appearance. He was arrested at the store. He initially denied having his phone on him, though surveillance showed he'd handed it to a co-worker.

The Buick was registered to a family member of another Walmart co-worker — Daiyvon Upshaw-Howard. Both men were seen leaving the store in the vehicle around 2:14 p.m. on Oct. 3, records state. An acquaintance told police the men claimed they left to check on Upshaw-Howard's cousin, recovering from a recent gunshot wound. The cousin said a group was watching his home, and Hall told the acquaintance they were being chased.

Two teenagers executed in an alley. Two suspects who showed up for their Walmart shifts the next day like nothing happened. This is the reality on the ground.

Contrast that with how the system handles its own. In Fairfax County, Virginia, WJLA reported that Master Police Officer Scott Abram — a 23-year veteran assigned to schools — was charged Oct. 8 with two counts of misdemeanor shoplifting after allegedly scanning cheaper barcodes for pricier items at Target self-checkout. He did it once in uniform, on duty. Chief Kevin Davis called it a betrayal of public trust. Abram was placed on administrative leave.

A cop stealing at self-checkout in uniform is a disgrace. But two 18-year-olds gunned down in an Indiana alley is the crisis that shatters communities. The open question is whether Lake County prosecutors will treat this case with the seriousness it demands — or whether more social justice experimentation will leave another set of parents waiting for justice that never comes.