INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – Retired college professor Harold Brown said he has felt safe around his apartment near 21st St. and College Ave.
His sense of well-being has been shaken.
"In that short moment, someone came from behind the car, the driver’s side, and pulled me out of the car,” Brown said.
He said it didn't seem possible in front of his own home.
Dr. Brown had just driven a neighbor home from a church Christmas party where he had also played music.
"Dragged me to the ground and put a gun in my face and said ‘I'm going to kill you, give me everything you've got.’"
The gunman frisked his 70-year-old victim and took all his valuables, including his cell phone. Brown wanted to hold onto his car, so he kept hold of his key ring.
But a second man showed up. A gun was getting ever-closer to Brown.
"I guess he saw the key in my hand and he ripped it off my finger," Brown said.
They punched and wrestled Brown to the ground and took the car.
All his friends told Brown he should not have resisted the armed robbery but he says his dignity demanded it.
"I'm still here,” Brown said. “It was a critical moment. He said he was going to kill me. I had nowhere to go. I had no escape.”
Brown praises police who chased the robbers. They crashed his car into a fence a half-block from where he bought it Monday and left it there.
Police are still looking for the suspects.
Brown says security could be improved in the area once a nearby streetlight light is fixed. It’s the light situated just above where Brown had parked his car.