Deliveryman: I Shot Man In Self-Defense

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Pizza Hut deliveryman who police say fatally shot a man on the city's east side Monday night says he acted in self-defense.

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Man Had Gun, Deliveryman Says

Ronald Honeycutt, 38, of Carmel, says he had just delivered a pizza at the Oaks Apartments around 11 p.m. Monday when a man approached him with a gun.

Honeycutt (pictured, right), who was near his delivery van and had his own gun, fired 15 times at the man, later identified as Jerome Brown, 20, of Indianapolis. Brown was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"The only thing I can do is protect myself, and if that means shooting somebody that intends to shoot you, so be it," Honeycutt told RTV6's Jack Rinehart Tuesday. "I'm sick of the crime and I'm sick of being victimized."

Honeycutt said that after the shooting, he picked up Brown's handgun and drove to a Pizza Hut, where sheriff's deputies took him into custody. Police questioned Honeycutt and then released him.

Pizza Hut, which has a policy forbidding deliverymen to carry weapons, fired Honeycutt soon after the shooting, Rinehart reported.

The county coroner's office Tuesday determined Brown died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Honeycutt said he used all the ammunition he had because Brown kept standing.

"The guy literally stood there the whole time with his arm up," Honeycutt said. "The whole time, I'm popping off rounds ... (and) the guy's still standing there after 15 rounds went off in him."

Honeycutt, who has a valid license to carry a firearm, said he planned to buy another handgun and go back to work with a different pizza business.

The Marion County prosecutor's office will review the case to determine whether Honeycutt acted in self-defense, Rinehart reported.