Bloomington police arrested 29-year-old Victor Pilot-Coleman Jr. in the shooting of a 21-year-old man in the parking lot of the Whitehall Plaza strip mall Tuesday. He has been charged with attempted murder and other charges.
A BPD report said officers responded at 5:30 p.m. to a call that a person was shot.
An update from BPD said the victim was in the driver’s seat of a car with an acquaintance at the drive-thru of Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, when Pilot-Coleman approached on foot carrying a handgun at 5:25 p.m.
The victim and acquaintance got out of the car, and the victim ran south in the parking lot. Police said the suspect followed and shot the victim multiple times. The acquaintance got back into the car, and drove after Pilot-Coleman, and struck him with the vehicle. This caused Pilot-Coleman to drop his handgun.
Police said he began to run toward Joann Fabrics and Crafts in the strip mall. The acquaintance picked up Pilot-Coleman’s gun and shot at him, but didn’t hit him, police said.
An update from BPD said they determined from surveillance footage that the acquaintance drove to the victim, who was collapsed in the parking lot, and put him in the back seat of the victim’s car.
He then took the victim to a home on South Curry Pike and called 911 on the way. An IU Health ambulance and police responded to the South Curry Pike address.
Witnesses told police the suspect had run around the west end of the shopping center.
A BPD release says officers searched the area behind the mall, and found Pilot-Coleman in a dumpster. The release said Pilot-Coleman was in custody within nine minutes of the first 911 call to Emergency Dispatch.
The victim was taken into emergency surgery at IU Health Bloomington for multiple gunshot wounds. Further information on his condition is not known.
BPD said in a statement that Pilot-Coleman, of Bloomington, has been preliminarily charged with attempted murder, level 1 felony; criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, level 5 felony; and pointing a firearm, level 6 felony.
This story has been updated.
Pilot Coleman Mtr Motion 331 by Indiana Public Media News on Scribd
