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Bloomington man uses axe to chase off suspected drug users

Posted at 11:11 PM, Sep 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-21 08:44:41-04

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Fed up with drugs in his neighborhood, a Bloomington man chased off suspected users with an axe in his hand.

Dante Jewell said he was sitting on his balcony when he noticed a suspicious vehicle he didn’t believe belonged to anyone in his apartment complex. He said he noticed people sitting in truck, parked a few feet away from the front doors of other units, using drugs.

“I happened to see they're shooting up in the parking lot with a needle in their arm,” said Jewell, who then attempted to chase them off. One had a needle in his hand and swung at me,” he said. “I ran back up to my unit, grabbed my axe and I hit their windshield three times. Took out his driver’ side mirror and headlight.”

Neighbors learned about the incident after it happened.

“I think there's probably better ways than taking an axe to somebody's car,” said neighbor Lauren Baney. 

Jewell said he acted in self-defense.

“I may have overreacted a bit, but no regrets,” he said.

Police were called to the scene but Jewell wasn’t charged. The driver of the truck admitted to doing drugs in the parking lot, but officers didn’t find anything suspicious in the truck, and no one was arrested. The case is still being investigated.

“If they decide to charge me with anything I'll accept full responsibility for what I did,” said Jewell. “I just hope they don't come back here because like I said, we got families here and families with kids.”

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