This happened yesterday in Indy. Two young punks decided an elderly store owner would make an easy target. They guessed wrong. The comments in brackets[] are mine.
A 76-year-old Eastside jewelry store owner opened fired on two suspected robbers Wednesday morning, killing one and trapping the second upstairs until police arrived.
-- Vic Ryckaert
Indianapolis police say Roscoe Parmley shot and killed Corey Artry, 18, at Rosco Jewelry, 5416 E. Washington St.
Police captured Artry's brother, Nicholas Artry, 20, in a second-floor room.
He was arrested on preliminary charges of robbery and felony murder. The murder charge arises from the allegation that he was involved in a crime that led to a death.[Blaming the criminal for the result rather than the victim score 1 for IPD]
Dozens of officers were on the scene minutes after the shooting was reported at 10:56 a.m., but Indianapolis Police Department Chief Michael Spears said officers could do little to prevent this kind of "brazen" attack.[A police chief who gets it, another point for IPD]
"Two apparently able-bodied young men decided they would try to victimize an honest store owner," Spears said. "Now we have one man dead and another who is probably going to spend a significant amount of his life in prison."[Did I mention I liked how this chief tells it like it is]
Artry was the 117th person to die in a homicide this year in Marion County, which puts 2006 on pace to be the bloodiest year since 1998.[Indy has developed a significant violent crime problem in recent years with the influx of drugs and gang activity]
When two masked men tried to rob the store, Maj. Lloyd Crowe said, one of them had a handgun, and Parmley opened fire with his own gun. One suspect fell, Crowe said, and the other hid in an upstairs room, where he was cornered until police arrived.
So far this year, there have been six self-defense killings and two deadly shootings by police, according to data collected by The Indianapolis Star.
Prosecutors will decide whether Parmley was acting in self-defense. A review of records in Marion County showed the Artrys had no signs of a criminal past.
A stray bullet from the incident struck close to a preschool, [accuracy matters in a gunfight]setting several of the jewelry store's Irvington neighbors on edge.
"It's awful," said Heather Olmsted, 26. "They could have been playing outside. That could have hit my kid."
The bullet blasted through the store's glass door and hit a car parked across the street near the Hilton U. Brown Early Childhood Center. Police said no children were in the building. It is unclear which gun fired the bullet. Next door to the preschool, however, 230 elementary students were attending Indianapolis Public School 57. The school was locked down after the incident, Principal Gloria Long said.
Olmsted, whose 6-year-old daughter, Kiara, is in kindergarten at School 57, said the neighborhood needs more police on patrol.
"It wouldn't have happened if there was more security around here," she said.
The store is on the border of IPD's East and South districts. Spears said officers from both districts were in the area when the shooting occurred and arrived quickly.
In an effort to stem the recent crime wave, Spears said, the department has used overtime to bring an additional 45 to 50 officers to the streets each day.
Parmley could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
