Greenwood detectives are still investigating two armed robberies that took place in front of the victims’ houses about a week apart last month.
The first robbery, just before 4 a.m. Dec. 16, occurred when a couple returned to their house in the 500 block of Grassy Bend Drive in Greenwood and were robbed at gunpoint in their driveway, according to a Greenwood Police Department report.
The suspects were described as two black males driving a white or light gray vehicle. One suspect was holding a black pistol and the other an assault rifle, the report said. The men demanded all of their money and wallets.
The male victim gave the suspects his wallet, but they demanded more, so he gave them his cell phone, according to the report. One of the suspects then hit him in the head with the pistol and fled the scene.
The man’s injuries required stitches, and he opted to drive himself to the hospital, the report said. His phone was later recovered in a grassy area nearby, the report said.
A similar robbery happened a week later on Dec. 22. An elderly couple arrived home from grocery shopping just before midnight. The woman went inside the house, while the man remained outside, and two men wearing masks ran up to him in the driveway, guns drawn, according to the report.
They demanded he hand over the keys to the car, and he did. He ran away to try to reach a neighbor for help, and one of the suspects chased after him briefly before turning back. The two suspects fled in the victim’s car, the report said.
The man called Greenwood police. He described one suspect as a tall male, possibly black, about 6’2″ tall, and skinny. The other suspect is described as a shorter, white male, possibly Hispanic, approximately 5’8″ tall, and also skinny, according to the report. Both suspects appeared to be in their early- to mid-20s.
Indianapolis police found the stolen car a few days later.
Greenwood detectives are working to track the suspects involved in both robberies. There is some reason to believe the robberies are connected, since both incidents were similar, but police are not certain, said Matt Fillenwarth, assistant police chief at the Greenwood Police Department.
“It’s not often that people get robbed in their front yards,” Fillenwarth said. “It’s just sort of a hunch because those kind of things don’t happen often.”
A similar robbery also happened Dec. 17 in Carmel, the day after the first Greenwood robbery. A woman was robbed and beaten with a gun after walking out to her car that was warming up in her driveway. The woman reported being pistol-whipped several times before the two men took off with cash from her center console.
However, Fillenwarth said Greenwood police are not investigating any connections to the Carmel crime.
