According to Springfield police, White displayed a handgun as he tried to rob a pizza delivery driver in the restaurant parking lot.
Another Domino’s employee, who was off duty and identified himself as a customer that night, 24-year-old Stephen P. Carroll, intervened in the attempted robbery. Witnesses told police that Carroll warned White to put the weapon down and then shot the suspect twice in the stomach after White pointed a gun at him, according to the police report.
A witness kicked White’s handgun away at the direction of a dispatcher after White kept trying to pick up the weapon before police arrived, according to 911 calls obtained by the Springfield News-Sun.
Police Chief Steve Moody said detectives are working to see if White may be connected to two other robberies involving pizza delivery drivers on Saturday.
Another Domino’s driver was robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot by a man matching White’s description. That driver reported that after the suspect stole his cash, the robber fired a round from the gun nearby, picked up the casing and then took off.
A delivery driver from Wise Guy’s Pizza also reported someone with a handgun tried to rob him in the 1300 block of Clifton Avenue.
Moody said Carroll does not face charges at this point. However, the case will be presented to a Clark County grand jury once all the evidence is collected. There’s no indication Carroll planned to confront the would-be robber that night, the chief said.
“They (the employees) look out for each other,” Moody said. “That’s a tough business.”
A would-be robber being shot by a witness is not a common occurence. A search in Springfield News-Sun archives could find no similar case. Recently, a patron at an Internet Cafe in Florida shot two robbers after they allegedly tried to hold up the business. Prosecutors did not charge the patron in that case.
Neither White nor Carroll have conceal carry permits on file in Clark County, according to the sheriff’s office.
By Ohio law, White is not allowed to own a gun since he is a convicted felon, having been found guilty of aggravated robbery in 2007. He also has a pending felony burglary case from March in Clark County Common Pleas Court. White is out on bond. A motion to dismiss the case was filed last month but hasn’t been ruled on by Judge Richard O’Neill, according to the clerk of courts. Carroll has no criminal record in Clark County.
Carroll declined to comment on the incident. He did say he doesn’t consider himself a hero but rather that he did “what anyone would do in that situation.”
Larry Jones, who owns the Fashion Park store next to Domino’s and shares the parking lot, called White “an idiot” if he did attempt the rob a delivery driver two nights in a row. However, he said Carroll acted too rashly.
“First off, he’s taking the law into his own hands. Second off, the pizza driver probably didn’t have more than $50 on him,” Jones said. “You try to take somebody’s life in your hands and that’s going to plague the guy for the rest of his life.”
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