Anyone know much about Gary, IN?

I was driving to Chicago to visit some fam and had to make a detour through Gary. What I saw I have never seen in my life and I grew up in Oakland East Side, too! As soon as I got off the freeway and hit the downtown road, nearly every building was abandoned and there was a nasty stench in the air. There were a few people standing on the street corners looking real sketch and I they were holding pistols and waving them around like it was a normal thing to do. People walked past them and didn't even flinch about it. As a passed a couple of cars parked on the road, they all had their windows busted out, I'm assuming they were stolen. As I got closer to get back on the expressway, there were several burned out buildings and a police car that looked like it had been stripped. This place is worse than the shanty towns of a third world country. I have seen my share of crime and bad neighborhoods all over the country and in my hometown of Oakland. This, however, was something I have never seen.

My question is: What the hell happened to this place?