Man stabbed during robbery at Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets

By ANDY STEINKE Staff Writer Published: Thursday, December 19, 2013 5:05 PM CST

MICHIGAN CITY — An elderly La Porte County man was hospitalized Wednesday after he was stabbed multiple times during an armed robbery at Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets.

Michigan City Chief of Police Mark Swistek said officers were dispatched at 11:51 a.m. to the mall’s northern parking lot on a report of robbery at knife point.

A 70-year-old man and his wife, 67, had just returned to their vehicle from shopping when the incident occurred, Swistek said.

The man was in the driver’s seat. His wife was sitting next to him. When she reached to close her door, a black man in his early to mid-30s grabbed the door, reached into the vehicle and demanded the woman give him her purse.

During the suspect’s struggle with the couple, he stabbed the husband multiple times in the torso with a knife.

The man was later transported to Franciscan St. Anthony Health for evaluation and treatment of his non-life threatening injuries, Swistek said.

After the attack, the suspect – about 6-feet tall with a stocky build – fled the area east toward Wabash Avenue. He got away with the woman’s purse, which contained money and other valuables, Swistek said.

Every patrol officer and investigator available was out searching for the suspect following the robbery, he said, but as of press time he had not been apprehended.

“We were just through the parking lot 15 to 20 minutes prior to the incident,” Swistek said, adding the department has been, and will continue to, patrol retail sites more than usual during the holiday shopping season.

“It is very disheartening, when you have an elderly couple who is victimized by a suspect much younger than them,” Swistek said.

While theft and robberies typically pick up this time of year, Swistek said this was the first time in recent years he could remember someone being injured to this extent.

Police do not yet know why the man was stabbed, but will update the public when more information is available. Anyone with information regarding the case can contact MCPD at (219) 873-1461.