(IN) Shootout leaves robber in hospital 08-28-04

http://nwitimes.com/articles/2004/08/28/news/lake_county/21989c85a4de4700862
56efd006f2e9d.txt
Robbery suspects were in no hurry to help wounded comrade
By T.J. WILHAM
(Muncie) Star Press
This story ran on nwitimes.com on Saturday, August 28, 2004 12:05 AM CDT

MUNCIE – Four would-be bandits drove nearly 90 minutes before they
decided to get help for one of them who had been shot in the stomach
when their robbery attempt turned into a shoot-out, police said
Thursday.

And when they did get help, the other three wouldn’t go to the hospital.

Instead, fearing they would be caught by the police, the men, all from
the Chicago area, dropped their accomplice off with a friend in Johnson
County.

The injured would-be bandit, identified by police as 20-year-old Dustin
Fredericksen of Lowell, Ind., was being treated late Thursday at
Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Fredericksen was shot when he and three other men, two of whom are now
in custody, walked into Prairie Creek Pawn Shop wearing masks. Before
anyone exchanged a word,

Fredericksen held a revolver to a potato as if it was a silencer and
fired it at the head of owner Adam Kennedy who immediately drew his own
gun and fired back, according to witnesses and police.

In all, at least four shots were fired within 10 seconds as Kennedy and
three of the men stood about 10 feet from each other.

Investigators said Thursday they believe that the four men planned to
shoot Kennedy and then rob him.

“They were going to shoot him right off the bat,” Muncie Police Sgt. Al
Williams said. “It was by the grace of God [Kennedy] didn’t get shot.”
Fredericksen; Kevin D. Banach, 20, Lansing, Ill; and Justin Corsey, 19,
Calumet City, Ill., have been preliminarily charged with attempted armed
robbery. Corsey was being held at the Delaware County jail late
Thursday, and authorities in Illinois took custody of Banach. Williams
said additional charges are being considered.

Police are still looking for a 16-year-old boy who waited outside while
the others went into the pawn shop wearing masks.

Kennedy, who has had problems sleeping since the robbery attempt, told
The Star Press that he didn’t feel good about shooting one of the men
even though he was defending himself and a customer who was in the store
during the shooting.

“I’d rather that this would not have happened at all,” Kennedy said. “I
don’t really think that anyone wants to shoot anybody, but it was one of
those situations that if I didn’t shoot, I would probably be dead.”

After they left the store, the men “didn’t know what to do,” Williams
said. They drove to Indianapolis, where they knew someone. While driving
down Interstate 69, they threw the gun used in the robbery attempt out
of the car window.

The men then met up with a friend from Johnson County at an Indianapolis
pharmacy, where they put Fredericksen in another car.

The men did follow the friend to St. Francis Hospital, but then drove
off when they saw a police car parked in front of the emergency room.

“This shows you what kind of guys these are,” Williams said. “They drove
around with their buddy bleeding and wouldn’t get help because they
didn’t want to get caught.”

Police said the three men, who had friends in Muncie, had been in the
store several weeks earlier looking for jewelry for their girlfriends.
Police said they suspect the men were planning their robbery attempt.

The plan was to go in, shoot the owner and grab guns and cash, police
said.

Local police were able to solve the crime after physicians in
Indianapolis called Marion County authorities, who were able to put “two
and two” together and called Muncie police, Williams said.

Since the robbery, Kennedy has reopened his pawn shop, although it was
closed for nearly a day while he cleaned up pieces of the potato
splattered throughout the store when
Fredericksen tried unsuccessfully to use it as a silencer.

The owner said he plans to install some “security devices” to protect
him in the future.

As for the gun. It’s still going to be at his side.
“If I didn’t have my gun, I wouldn’t be talking right now,” he said. “I
always wondered what I would do in that situation. Now I know.”