Wheelchair Gunman Robs Food Stand; Woman Shot

A double amputee in a wheelchair robbed a hamburger stand at gunpoint, rolled into a nearby parking lot and shot a woman in the chest, then forced two people to assist his escape, authorities said today.

Edward Crawford, 33, whose legs are amputated above the knee, was arrested in the bizarre spree Thursday night, police said.

The man wheeled in to Mary Ann’s Old Timey Hamburgers at about 7 p.m., pointed a .38-caliber pistol at owner Mary Ann Rowell and took about $100, said Sgt. Brian Foster.

“He had horrible eyes,” Rowell said. “He looked like he hated . . . my guts.”

Foster said the suspect then wheeled across the street to the parking lot of a discount store and waved a passing car to a stop. He pointed the pistol at the woman motorist and started to get in the back seat.

The driver, Jennifer Westerhoff, said she had time to think about what was happening while the man got his wheelchair into the car.

“I ducked and put the car into drive,” she said, then jumped from the moving vehicle. The car smashed into a trash can, and Westerhoff fled as the man tried to get out of the car.

Foster said the gunman then got back into his wheelchair and rolled several hundred feet away to confront a woman walking to her car. He shot Roberta Hinkle, 62, once in the chest, apparently because she would not give him a ride.

She was hospitalized in serious condition.

Foster said the man then rolled to the far side of the lot in search of another getaway car.

A car pulled up. Abandoning his wheelchair, the gunman scrambled in and forced the couple in it to drive off. He released the pair an hour later, got into a cab and rode away. He was later taken into custody.