Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Most Innocent Criminal

An Associated Press report in today's Journal Sentinel describes what is possibly the most sympathetic armed robbery ever to occur in Indianapolis. A 23-three-year old man held up a check-cashing business, proceeded to cry, talk, and then pray with the female clerk before taking the bullet from his gun, handing it to her, and fleeing with her cell phone and $20 in cash.

The pre-prayer conversation topics ranged of from the robber's financial troubles and his struggle to support his 2-year-old son to the topic of God. The man requested prayers that he might overcome his hardships before he himself got to his knees and prayed for nearly ten minutes. All of this, mind you, was occurring in the middle if a robbery. His face was clearly visible all the while. The robbery occurred on Monday and he surrendered himself on Tuesday.

Wow. I have never heard of such instantaneous remorse, never mind the symbolic gesture of handing your victim the bullet from your gun! I'm curious as to how the clerk reacted while all of this was happening, or after, when the initial shock subsided. I am also left wondering what will become of this young man and of his prayers will in fact be answered. But my initial reaction remains: there's got to be an easier way to acquire twenty bucks.

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