Mugging at gunpoint causes fear in Old Northside residents

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Neighbors say a normally quiet downtown neighborhood is on edge after an armed robbery Wednesday night.

It happened near Alabama Street and 12th Street in the Old Northside neighborhood at about 10:30 p.m.

A 21-year-old woman says she was simply walking to her car when a man pistol whipped her.

“I’ve only lived downtown for a few months and it’s really shaken me up,” said the victim, who asked not to be identified. “I’m walking towards my car and all of a sudden I hear scuffling, and I look behind me and there’s a guy in a hoodie and jeans holding a gun running after me,” she said.

The woman told police the man pushed her to the ground, cracking her head. The suspect ran away with her purse.

This isn’t the first time this has happened in the neighborhood. Her roommate says she’s also been a crime victim

“They totaled my car, hot wired it,” the woman’s roommate, Darcy Hunter, said.

Hunter says it happened about a month ago. Some residents say they no longer feel comfortable in the neighborhood.

“[He] just, like, stole my sense of security, kind of scary,” Hunter explained.

Now I’ll just be a little more cautious and aware of my surroundings,” said Wendy Brown, who was walking in the neighborhood Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office suggests cutting back high shrubs, eliminating blind corners and lighting the areas around your property.

The MCPO’s Safety By Design program says those changes can help make your property safer.

A prosecutor’s office official will come to your home, neighborhood or business for a free property audit that they say could lower the risk of you becoming a victim.

The MCPO can be found at Indy.gov/mcpo or 317-327-3522