A woman armed with an umbrella successfully fought off a gunman who attempted to steal her purse after she got off the South Shore train at the Gary Metro Station Thursday night.
According to Northern Indiana Public Transportation District Transit Police Chief Robert Byrd the 42-year-old DeMotte woman got off the South Shore train and was walking to her car. which she parked on the street at W. 3rd Avenue and Jefferson Street. The woman told police she parked on the street instead of in the lots because they were full.
As she was walking, she was approached by a man who said, "What time is it? Did you just get off the train? I'm the Gary police. I'm not here to hurt you, you (expletive)."
Byrd said the woman knew the man wasn't a police officer and continued walking to her car when a second man jumped out of the bushes and said, "Give me your purse. I have a gun. I'll shoot you."
The woman then began beating the gunman with her umbrella, Byrd said. The gunman chased the woman around her car and said, "I'll shoot you. Stop hitting me."
At that time, an unknown person yelled, "Hey!" and the gunman ran to the west toward W. 3rd Avenue and Madison Street and the first man ran toward the Gary Metro Station, Byrd said.
The woman was not injured in the incident.
The case is being investigated by the Gary Police Department, Byrd said, but his department is also getting involved because the crime occurred against one of its commuters.
"We're writing it up as an attempted armed robbery," Byrd said.
The man who claimed to be a Gary police officer is described as a male black, 28 to 35 years old, who was wearing a stocking cap and dark jacket and was carrying a black book bag at the time of the incident. The gunman is described as a male black, 17 to 23 years old standing 5 feet 8 inches tall with a thin build wearing a black and yellow hoodie.
"We just want to let our commuters know to be safe, be alert of their surroundings and to walk in numbers," Byrd said.
Anyone with information about the crime is asked to contact NICTD transit police at (219) 398-6000 or the Gary Police Department detective bureau at (219) 881-1209.
