EVANSVILLE — An Evansville man in the market for a PlayStation 5 allegedly tried to hold the seller at gunpoint Tuesday rather than pay the agreed-upon price, and amid the ensuing struggle shot himself in the arm, landing him first in the hospital and then in jail to face felony charges.
The man, identified by police as 21-year-old Stephen M. Mitchell, faces preliminary charges of armed robbery and leaving the scene of an accident with injury. The alleged incident unfolded around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 1400 block of Parrett Street, according to Evansville Police Detective Caleb Wiseman, who on Wednesday filed an arrest affidavit providing a detailed account of how police believe the botched robbery of a gaming console ended in gunfire.
According to Wiseman, the would-be seller said he arranged to sell his PlayStation 5, which retails for $649.99, and met a man outside who was driving a gold 2007 Chevrolet Equinox. The affidavit doesn’t state how the sale was arranged or how the seller identified Mitchell as the customer. But when the seller got in the Equinox, the driver, later identified as Mitchell, began driving away.
Mitchell then began offering less money for the console than they had previously agreed upon, the affidavit states. That’s when an already tense situation took a violent turn. The seller told detectives Mitchell reached under his seat — at first leading him to believe Mitchell was reaching for money — and produced a firearm, pointing it at him.
According to the seller’s later statements to detectives, they struggled over the weapon; he heard two loud booms, and before long the Equinox being driven by Mitchell had crashed. The seller told police he got out of the passenger seat and made his way back to his residence. The affidavit notes the seller sustained injuries both from the physical altercation and from the crash.
Mitchell allegedly fled the scene on foot and arrived at Deaconess Midtown Hospital shortly after with a gunshot wound to his arm.
How Mitchell initially explained gunshot wound
According to Wiseman’s affidavit, Mitchell’s story about what landed him in the hospital at first portrayed him as the victim of a robbery by an unknown man he met outside a convenience store near downtown and agreed to give a ride to. The stranger, having caught sight of Mitchell’s wallet, pulled a gun on him, Mitchell at first told detectives while he was being treated at Deaconess Midtown Hospital for the gunshot wound to his arm.
“He told Detective (Adam) Stepro that they began fighting over the gun, and he got shot in the arm,” the affidavit states.
During a second interview with a Street Crimes Unit detective, Mitchell is alleged to have given more or less the same story — that an unknown man pulled a gun on him after he agreed to give the stranger a ride — but this time Mitchell allegedly added that he too was armed.
“Stephen (Mitchell) made the statement that he didn’t know if the unknown male shot him, or if he shot himself during the struggle,” Wiseman wrote.
While detectives were interviewing Mitchell at the hospital, dispatchers received another call for a robbery in the same area as the hit-and-run case involving Mitchell. It was the seller calling to report that while he was trying to sell a PlayStation 5, a man in a gold SUV pulled a gun on him.
Mitchell ended interview with detectives as they linked shooting to PS5 robbery
After detectives received the robbery call and placed Mitchell in handcuffs, Wiseman returned to the emergency room, read Mitchell his Miranda warning and confronted him with the story about a PlayStation 5 and a robbery. According to Wiseman, Mitchell’s account shifted a third time.
While Mitchell acknowledged driving to a specific location to pick someone up, he refused to say where or for what reason, the affidavit states, all the while insisting he was the victim. After Wiseman countered that he already knew the answers to some of the questions he was asking, Mitchell declined to cooperate further. The interview ended.
Officers connected Mitchell to the crash scene after the registered owner of the Equinox confirmed Mitchell had been regularly driving it, court records state. Due to location-sharing data from a family member, Mitchell was placed near the intersection of Culver Drive and Madison Avenue — the same area as the hit-and-run — around the time of the incident.
A second vehicle, a silver 2019 BMW X3, had been used to bring Mitchell to the hospital. Officers spotted a firearm and blood in plain view inside the car and had it towed. Detectives later executed search warrants on both vehicles.
Inside the Equinox, investigators found an empty gun holster near the driver-side center console.
Inside the BMW, detectives recovered a blood-covered cellphone, a 9 mm Glock handgun covered in blood with a shell casing still in the chamber, and a second firearm in the driver’s door. An unlabeled prescription bottle found in the seat pocket contained pills identified as oxycodone and acetaminophen.
According to court records, Mitchell retained Evansville defense attorney Glenn Grampp, who entered an appearance on his behalf Wednesday. The Courier & Press left a message at Grampp’s office seeking comment.
Vanderburgh Superior Court Magistrate Emily Hall found probable cause to detain Mitchell pending the filing of formal charges. Under Indiana law, prosecutors have 72 hours to formally charge a defendant arrested on the basis of probable cause or else or else the defendant must be released. Having considered Mitchell’s criminal history, juvenile record, “character, reputation, habits and mental condition,” Hall set his bail at $20,000.
An initial hearing in the case is scheduled to be held May 26 before Superior Court Judge Robert J. Pigman.
Houston Harwood may be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: EPD: Man tried to rob a PS5 seller at gunpoint, then shot himself
Reporting by Houston Harwood, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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