Robbery victim turns tables on teen gunman
LAWRENCE, Ind. (WISH) – A robbery victim Thursday turned the tables and shot his 18-year-old attacker, police said.
Both the robbery victim and suspect wound up shot, but quick thinking and a bold reaction kept a bad situation from getting worse.
Nearby surveillance cameras caught the action around 8 a.m. in the busy area at East 42nd Street and North Franklin Road. Derrick Hart, the teen, must have missed the cameras.
The surveillance video showed the victim, who was not identified, drive past a storefront. He went behind the shopping plaza, parked his vehicle and waited for a particular store to open. Less than 15 minutes later, the video showed, the same car sped off. What the video did not show was Hart allegedly getting inside the victim’s car.
Lawrence Police Department Deputy Chief Gary Woodruff said, “The robbery victim said, ‘I don’t have any money.’ But at the same time, he noticed that there was some type of armored courier vehicle that was sitting here at the ATMs at the nearby Chase bank.”
The video showed the armored vehicle and its driver at an ATM. According to Woodruff, the victim tried to drive toward the armored vehicle to safety.
“That gave enough of a distraction that the robbery victim was able to grab the gun and fight over the gun right inside of the car while he’s driving across the parking lot,” Woodruff said.
The victim ended up crashing into a chain-link fence near the bank. It was a minor crash, but what happened next was major. Both drivers got out of their vehicles. Woodruff said the victim pulled out his own gun and a battle began on the busy road.
The deputy chief said, “There were two Lawrence police officers that were sitting right up the street, heard the exchange of gunfire, responded immediately and were able to make an immediate arrest at the scene.”
The victim was shot in the arm. He was treated and released from the hospital.
Hart was shot at least twice. At last check, he was in serious condition at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis. Hart was expected to recover. On Thursday night, Hart was listed in online records as being in the Marion County Jail.
Hart is wanted on federal warrants. He could ultimately face formal criminal charges of armed robbery, aggravated battery and criminal confinement, Woodruff said.
