Hawkins
An Indianapolis man will serve seven years for a theft-turned-shots fired incident in Greenwood earlier this year.
Cashmere D. Hawkins, 28, pleaded guilty Thursday to carrying a handgun without a license and battery on a public safety official, both Level 5 felonies, and theft and pointing a firearm, both Level 6 felonies. He was given a seven-year sentence by Johnson County Superior Court 3 Judge Douglas Cummins, four years of which will be served in prison followed by three years of active probation.
As part of his sentence, Hawkins will be required to maintain full-time employment, stay off drugs and alcohol and regularly report to a probation officer to make sure he’s doing what is required of him, according to a Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office news release.
Hawkins was arrested in February after Greenwood police officers responded to a theft report at Dollar General, 1000 N. Madison Avenue. The theft report later escalated into a shots-fired incident.
The victims reported that Hawkins stole items from their parked vehicle, and when they followed him into a nearby neighborhood, he pointed a handgun at them before shooting into the air. He was eventually taken into custody after a search near County Line Road.
During the search for Hawkins, he threw a gun on the roof of a house. But the gun later slid off the roof and was found by police, police said.
The gun, a Heckler & Koch .45 caliber pistol, had been reported stolen earlier on Monday as part of a vehicle theft. About 50 minutes before the Dollar General incident, an Uber Eats driver reported his car and gun had been stolen outside the Greenwood Park Mall, police said.
After his initial arrest, Hawkins was charged with additional offenses stemming from incidents with correctional officers while he was being held in the Johnson County jail, prosecutors say.
In a statement, Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner said the case was another example of an out-of-county criminal coming to the county to “prey on our citizens” and later going to prison.
“Our community is a wonderful place to come to live, raise a family, and make an honest living. But it’s a terrible place to come to commit crimes,” Hamner said. “We don’t tolerate it here. Mr. Hawkins has now learned that hard lesson.”
