‘No reason to shoot me’: Driver recalls getting robbed in fake pizza delivery
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Delivery driver Brent Ham knows he’s lucky to be alive. He spoke to News 8 just hours after being released from the hospital on Tuesday after being shot during a delivery.
“It’s ridiculous. People out here doing stuff. He had no reason to shoot me, none whatsoever,” Ham said.
He was on the job delivering food for Aunt Polly’s Pizza when he was brought to a home near 39th Street and Park Avenue with a pizza on Sunday night, Valentine’s Day. He knocked and no one answered.
Another person pulled up behind his vehicle, so he knocked again, then gave up and drove off. He was a couple blocks away when he got a second call with an address next door.
Ham said he wasn’t on high alert. The neighborhood was well lit. As he got out to get the food, a man walked up and demanded Ham’s money.
Ham refused.
“He shot me,” Ham said.
After firing the shots, the robber went through Brent’s pockets, grabbed the cash and ran off.
“It is senseless. Very senseless. People trying to make a living and someone wants to come along and take your money and shoot you. It’s ridiculous,” Ham said.
Brent was shot twice. One shot in the stomach missed his vital organs. But a second shot to the wrist was more serious. It shattered his bone and nicked an artery.
A woman running out with a towel likely saved his life.
“If it wasn’t for that lady, I would have bled out and died,” Ham said.
Thanking her was his first stop when he was released from the hospital on Tuesday.
Then a little later, he stopped by his workplace, already itching to get back in the driver’s seat — cast, bandages and all.
He’s been delivering food here for almost a year to support himself and his fiancée.
“I’m not a pretty quick healer — I need to work and make a living like I was trying to do that night,” Ham said.
He can’t help but think about what could have happened.
Perhaps if he had handed over the money, there would have been a different outcome. But no one knows for sure.
“I think about it since it happened. Maybe I’d given him the money, I wouldn’t have got shot. People are like, ‘He would have shot you anyway,’” Ham said. “Hindsight is 20/20. I probably should have given it to him that night, I wouldn’t — maybe — I wouldn’t have got shot.”
Ham plans to be back to work on Wednesday night.
He described the robber as about 25 years old and about 5-feet-6 with a slender build. If you think you may have some information, give Crime Stoppers a call at 317-262-TIPS (8477).
