Dispute over tire rims led to shootout

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A Craigslist trade gone awry has left three men in custody after a debate about price led to gunshots being fired outside of a Subway restaurant yesterday.

Lafayette Police said 27-year-old Edward Mercer, 26-year-old Jarrod Rodriguez, and 49-year-old Eugene Hall, all of Hammond, Ind. have been arrested on preliminary charges of armed robbery.

Police said the three men from Hammond met two men from Indianapolis at the Subway on State Road 38 East in Lafayette during the dinner hours on Wednesday.

The men were negotiating the price of customized tires and rims which the pair from Indianapolis had placed on the internet website Craigslist when shots were fired, police said.

Witnesses at the scene told police one of the men from Hammond fired the first shot and the victim shot back.

Both parties were armed.

The Indianapolis men were not arrested pending review of the prosecutor.

Police say the men from Hammond had one gun used in the shooting.

The victims had two guns, one used in the shooting and one police found later in the victims' vehicle.

No one was injured in the shooting, but a window was shot out of an empty store nearby.

Witness Cody Veach says he could not believe what was happening before his eyes.

"We heard two gunshots and thought it was a car backfiring and we stood up to see what was going on and that's when the guys started opening up fire on the van and everybody just kind of freaked out," he said.

Unique circumstances enabled police to respond to this situation extremely quickly.

"Ironically we had an officer right across the street at the Family Express towing a vehicle when this all happened, so he actually was witness to the shots being fired. At least, hearing the shots being fired," said Lafayette Sergeant Bob Baumgartner.

That officer, John Wells, immediately called for backup. One of the groups involved in the shooting took off in a van. They were pulled over within minutes on 350 South near U-S 52. Others were confronted by police in the Subway parking lot.

 ( Read yesterday's story)