INDIANAPOLIS – It appears there is an increase of late-night armed robberies at restaurants in Indianapolis.
On Tuesday night, the Sports Bench Tavern on Southeastern Avenue was robbed at gunpoint.
MORE | 3 rob Broad Ripple bar with patrons inside | Restaurant owner offers discounts for customers who concealed-carry
She says a handful of customers were inside the bar when a man came in and waved a gun around.
“I don’t understand why someone would do that to someone else,” the bartender said. “I mean, I don’t know if this gentleman’s got kids, or if he just doesn’t care about family.”
She says she followed his demands, which included a shopping list of items. The bartender says she was afraid the man was willing to commit murder to get what he wanted.
“Lottery tickets, Hennessey, I mean – all the money – the only thing that kept going through my head was, ‘My kids, my kids,’” She said. “I couldn’t imagine my kids having to wake up without me here.”
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department does not have any suspects in the robbery, but we looked at the numbers and found restaurant robberies happen often in Indy.
MORE | Robbers target Mexican restaurants on Indy's west side
There have been 51 police reports of robberies at restaurants so far this year. They’ve been spread across the city, and many included robbers armed with guns. The reports come from fast food joints, sit-down restaurants and bars.
During the same time period last year, we found only 10 IMPD reports on the same kind of crimes.
We’re working to figure out why there’s an apparent increase in these robberies. We’ve reached out to the Indiana Restaurant and Lodging Association, but it declined to comment on the issue.
-----
Follow Mike Pelton on Twitter: @mikepeltonrtv6
Sign up to have the latest news headlines delivered straight to your email inbox
