New Haven Pizza Delivery Man Grabs Robber's Gun, Fires it at Him: PD

NEW HAVEN, CT—A food delivery driver managed to wrestle a gun out of a robber's hands and fire it at the crook, according to police.

The incident happened Sept. 21 shortly before 3 a.m.

The driver told police he was robbed at gunpoint on Colony Road by a man in a grey long-sleeved shirt and jeans while delivering a pizza on the road, said Officer David Hartman, police spokesman.

A gun was pulled when the victim told the man he owed $37. The driver handed over some cash and then gave him a bag of soft drinks when he demanded food, Hartman said.

The robber then went through the driver's pockets when he was told he didn't carry a wallet and demanded he open the glove compartment. That was when the driver braced himself and wrestled the gun from the robber, Hartman said.

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The struggle continued until the perp let go of the gun and the victim fired it at him.

Officers were given the perpetrator’s description and that of the suspected get-away car. The search was on to find him and it wouldn’t take long.

At the scene, Officers found several bullet casings.

At 5:12 AM, Officers Paul Finch and Alex Rivera were sent to Yale New Haven Hospital regarding a walk-in gunshot victim. While en route, dispatchers advised them they had information that the injured man had been dropped off by an unknown person who was, himself, armed with a gun. Officers searched the hospital area but didn’t locate the driver. The car was found in the hospital’s Emergency Department’s parking lot. It would later be impounded as evidence. It also matched the description of the car seen leaving Colony Road by a witness who’d looked outside after hearing the gunshots.

The Officers went to talk to the wounded man. His injury was minor. He identified himself as Shawn Pauls and adamantly claimed he’d been shot earlier in Hamden. Pauls – a convicted felon, lied.

The victim identified Pauls as the man who’d robbed him. Pauls (8-3-1993), whose last known addresses were on Ellsworth Avenue in New Haven and Sherman Avenue in Hamden, was arrested on the spot. Pauls’ charges include criminal possession of a firearm, robbery in the first degree, larceny in the second degree and threatening in the first degree. The list may grow. Late this morning, Pauls, who’d been released from treatment at the hospital, confessed to detectives that he’d committed the Colony Road robbery.

The victim won't be charged.