Editor's note: This story has been updated to include information about the person suspected of stealing the car.
Robert Mitchell parked his blue Ford Mustang outside the Dollar General at 910 S. Glenstone Ave. on Monday afternoon, left his wallet and phone in the car and briefly went inside the store.
Mitchell also reportedly left the keys in the ignition, so when he came out of the store, his Mustang was gone.
Rather than asking to use the store’s phone to call police, Mitchell walked for about an hour to his residence. That's where his girlfriend used an app on her phone to locate Mitchell’s cellphone and track the stolen car.
Mitchell — according to a written report from the police officer who would later arrest the 37-year-old Springfield man for unlawful use of a weapon charges — then got a ride with a friend to chase down the person who stole Mitchell’s Mustang.
All this happened around 2 p.m. Monday, June 3, according to the officer’s report.
Car owner hops in friend's pickup and the chase is on
Using the location tracking app on his girlfriend’s phone, Mitchell saw that his Mustang was near the intersection of Glenstone Avenue and Division Street, the officer wrote. En route to that location, Mitchell and his friend saw the blue Mustang traveling south on Glenstone near the Sinclair Station at 427 S. Glenstone.
The friend, who is identified in the report as “W1,” steered the pickup truck in front of the Mustang to cut off its path.
This is when Mitchell allegedly hung out the front passenger window and began firing shots from his Glock 23, a .40-caliber pistol, at the Mustang, the officer wrote.
The Mustang continued south on Glenstone, but Mitchell and his friend caught up with the stolen car near Glenstone and East Cinderella Street and pulled into the Glen Isle Shopping Center on the east side of Glenstone, just north of the Sunshine Street intersection.
At that point, Mitchell allegedly fired three more shots from the pickup truck at the car, trying to hit a tire and deflate it, but was unsuccessful, according to the officer’s report.
The Mustang traveled south on Glenstone, then west on Sunshine and finally south on Fremont Avenue, where it rear-ended another vehicle stopped at a red light. This allowed Mitchell and his friend the chance to catch up with the car, the police officer wrote.
According to the report, Mitchell approached the Mustang and pulled the driver, who is identified only as “V1” in the report, out of the vehicle. Springfield police officers arrived shortly after that. They detained the driver of the Mustang and spoke with Mitchell.
Officer quizzes Mitchell about his actions
In talking with police, Mitchell corroborated the events of the chase as described in this story. The police officer wrote that he repeated the story back to Mitchell multiple times to make sure the officer had the details correct.
Asked if he ever attempted to call 911 to report the stolen car, Mitchell said his girlfriend — who apparently was also in the truck — tried to call but the pickup was “too loud” and she could not hear the dispatcher.
The officer questioned Mitchell about the possibility of stray bullets hitting innocent bystanders at the Sinclair gas station.
“I hope not,” Mitchell replied. “I don’t think so.”
The officer asked if the large parking lot where Mitchell fired off another three shots was empty or if the CSL Plasma building was empty.
“No,” Mitchell said. “Probably not.”
The officer confirmed that Mitchell realized he fired multiple shots from the Glock that didn’t hit the Mustang and that he didn’t know where the rounds went.
“Correct,” Mitchell said.
Asked what his intentions were in shooting the gun from the passenger seat of the pickup, Mitchell stated, “To get him to stop. I was trying to scare him so he would stop.”
Mitchell says he ‘wasn't thinking 100%'
Mitchell told the officer that he was not intoxicated, but that he “wasn’t thinking 100%,” according to the police report.
The officer wrote that Mitchell acknowledged he “doesn’t get to take the law into his own hands” to recover the Mustang.
The officer asked Mitchell if he pulled the person who stole the Mustang out of the car and punched the person.
“I might have. I do remember kneeing him. It all happened so quick, my adrenalin was rushing,” Mitchell told the officer, as was recounted in the report. “I was f—ing mad. I should not have done it.”
According to the report, the officer asked Mitchell if his actions during the incident were reckless.
“Absolutely,” Mitchell responded, according to the report.
The officer asked Mitchell if he thought an unlawful use of weapon charge was fair.
“It is fair,” Mitchell said. “I should not have fired my weapon off at the car.”
Mitchell is charged with the class B felony of unlawful use of a weapon, shooting at a person and the class E felony of unlawful use of a weapon, exhibiting. He is in the Greene County Jail with a $25,000 bond.
According to online court records, Mitchell does not yet have an attorney.
Alleged car thief also in jail
Nicholas John Mackiewicz, the person police believe stole Mitchell's Mustang, is also in the Greene County jail.
Mackiewicz, 46, is charged with the class D felony of first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle. He does not yet have an attorney and is held on a $25,000 bond.
According to the probable cause statement for his arrest, Mackiewicz told the arresting officer that Mackiewicz thought the Mustang was his own vehicle.
When asked about being pursued and shot at by Mitchell, Mackiewicz stated, “All I know is that when he pointed the gun at me, I pulled over. I heard bullets,” the officer wrote in his report.
Throughout the probable cause statement for Mackiewicz’s arrest, Mitchell is identified as the victim.
