Bloomington Police Department officers were flagged down around 4 p.m. Monday by a man on South Muller Parkway saying he had been held hostage and beaten up by four people earlier that day.
The man, 34, told officers he had been beaten up by two men and two women in a South Basswood Drive apartment, police said. He told officers he had been threatened with a handgun and one of the suspects had taken his phone, Lt. John Kovach said.
The victim had cuts and bruises on his face, Kovach said, so officers called him an ambulance and continued their interview at IU Health Bloomington Hospital. During this time, another officer found one of the female suspects, who had the victim’s phone on her, Kovach said.
At the hospital, the victim told police he had spent the night before at an apartment with the two female suspects and was trying to buy some meth. He said the two other men came to the apartment between 8 and 9:30 a.m. and began to ask him about drug money he owed them, Kovach said.
The victim said he had $36 on him, which he was using to try and buy meth. He told police one of the two male suspects was upset the victim wasn’t using this money to pay him back, so he punched the victim and pointed a handgun at him, saying he was going to shoot.
The four suspects let the man use the restroom but stopped him when he tried to leave the apartment, Kovach said. The 34-year-old man told police that at one point, all five of them left to try and get money to settle the debts, but ended up finding none.
After searching for money, the victim said the five of them returned to the apartment but soon left to get drinks at a nearby gas station. During the gas station trip, the victim was able to escape and flag down an officer, Kovach said.
In total, police were able to find three of the four suspects the victim described, two females and one male, Kovach said. Both females denied ever seeing a gun, police said.
All three suspects police spoke with said they weren’t involved, but Kovach said none of them denied the story the victim was telling. They are pushing the blame on the fourth suspect, the second male the 34-year-old man said was in the apartment.
“They’re not denying it happened, just denying their involvement,” Kovach said.
The case is still ongoing and no arrests have been made as of noon Wednesday, Kovach said.
