Robbery Suspect Shoots Self In Genitals

Police said a Kokomo man accidentally shot himself in the genitals while robbing a convenience store early Tuesday.

Kokomo police said they were called to a Village Pantry store at about 4:20 a.m. after a call from a clerk.

The female clerk told police that a man came into the store with a semiautomatic handgun, grabbed her hair and demanded cash and cigarettes before handing her a white cloth bag, WRTV-TV in Indianapolis reported.

The clerk said that as she retrieved the cigarettes, she heard a gunshot and turned to confront the man, who yelled that he had shot himself.

"The bullet traveled through his right testicle ... and then into the bottom part of his leg," Kokomo police Lt. Don Whitehead said.

Police said the man, whom they identified as 25-year-old Derrick Kosch, grabbed the bag full of cash and fled the store.

In-store surveillance cameras showed that Kosch shot himself as he placed the gun into the waistband of his pants, police said.

Shortly after the robbery, dispatchers got a call from someone in a home located several blocks away from the store about a man who was shot.

When officers arrived, they found Kosch. The home belongs to his grandmother, police said.

"He said he had been shot (and) someone was trying to rob him," said the grandmother, who was not named. "In the meantime, I found out that he was trying to rob somebody else."

Kosch was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Officers said that while at the home, they found the bag of money that was taken from the convenience store and clothes seen on the robber in the surveillance tape.

Police said Kosch was arrested on robbery and criminal recklessness charges. Police said they were looking for the gun.