Home Invasion Funeral: Family Seeks Donations to Pay for Burial of Man Who Broke into Palos Park Home

Palos Park, IL — Declaring that “one moment does not define one’s life,” the family of a 19-year-old Cedar Lake, Indiana, man shot by a Palos Park homeowner during an alleged home invasion has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for his funeral costs.

• Related: Fatal Home Invasion Began as Sex Tryst and Robbery Scheme: Inside the Crime

According to allegations, Anthony Dalton and four other friends drove from Indiana to Palos Park on July 5, after one of the young women arranged to have paid sex with the homeowner. The plan was for the woman and another female friend to go into the man’s home, then open the door as the sign for the others to enter and rob the homeowner.

Instead, Dalton was shot dead in the chest by the homeowner, who told police Dalton and another man were inside his home pointing knives at him. The other man, Tyler Gulli, 23, remains hospitalized with a broken femur he suffered from being shot in the leg.

Gulli and three young Indiana mothers — sisters Brandy, 19, and Paige Marshall, 20, and their 20-year-old friend Sarah Risner — each have been charged with home invasion and first-degree murder in the commission of a crime. The women are being held on $2 million bail.

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The homeowner, who had a valid FOID card and conceal-carry permit, has not been charged with wrongdoing.

“Anthony had just turned 19 June 28th and had started a new job in construction and was starting to build his life, although he spent most of his money on his friends and family," his loved ones wrote. "That is how he has always been,” a family member wrote. “Anthony is one of the most caring, generous people that I have ever met. He would literally give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. His main goal in life was to make others happy, and he did just that. He was going to have a little sister next month, and he was so excited to meet her. Talking of his plans on what he was going to get her and what he was going to teach her and of course letting us know that she will never be allowed to date lol. It is such a shame that Kyleigh will never get to meet her big brother that was ready to give the world to her.”

Because of Dalton’s sudden and unexpected death, his father was caught “financially unprepared” to pay for his son’s funeral.

So far, about $950 has been raised toward an overall fundraising goal of $5,000. The Dalton family also posted a comment warning naysayers to stay off Dalton’s GoFundMe page with their “negativity.”

UPDATE FOR ALL OF YOU WHO WANT TO REPORT THIS AND SEND ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE MESSAGES. HERE ARE THE FACTS
1. THERE ARE 4 PEOPLE CHARGED IN HIS MURDER. THEY WOULD NOT CHARGE HIS ACCOMPLICES IF THERE WAS NOT SOME WRONG DOING.
2. THOSE 4 HAD PRE-MEDITATED THE ROBBERY WITHOUT MY SON INCLUDED IN THIS PLAN AND PICKED HIM UP GOT HIM F**KED UP AND COERCED HIM INTO DOING SOMETHING HE WOULDN’T HAVE NORMALLY DONE SOBER.
3. REGARDLESS OF WHAT HE MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE DONE, THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT HIS FATHER IS NOW PUT IN A HORRIBLE FINANCIAL PREDICAMENT.
4. EVERYONE WHO HAS DONATED ARE CLOSE FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO KNOW THE REAL ANTHONY.