A Mennonite couple were robbed and shot while fixing a broken down trailer in the early hours of Thursday morning. The wife and mother died at the scene, while the husband remains in critical condition after being shot in the neck.
Forty-year-old Wilma Hochstetler died at the scene following a deadly robbery where two black males stole money and phones off the couple before shooting them at close range before taking off.
The two men did not see the couple’s youngest son sat waiting for them in the car before fleeing the scene.
The couple were fixing a broken down truck that had blown a tire into the evening until the couple noticed a malfunction with the trailer’s lights.
After having sent his crew back to Bloomfield in their truck, the couple worked on fixing the trailer outside a roofing project.
Jonathan Hochstetler remains in critical condition after a bullet went through his neck, but is expected to survive after a long road to recovery and is thankful to have not been left paralyzed.
The gunshot wound fractured three vertebrae in his neck which required surgical fusion. Jonathan also suffered a broken jaw and other facial fractures from the shooting.
Despite his severe injuries, he was able to crawl to the car and dial 911 to call for help with the assistance of his six-year-old son.
“It got after midnight,” Sam Hochstetler said, reported Indy Star. “They fixed the tire, they’re ready to leave and then the running lights of the trailer didn’t work.”
“Jonathan told us that (the robbers) turned around and started to walk away,” Sam added. “All of a sudden, they just turned and shot. His wife was instantly killed. Jonathan was hit through the neck.”
Sam Hochstetler, who the father of Jonathan Hochstetler, read a letter aloud that has been dubbed “powerful” by local sources, according to WTHR.
“I feel no hatred, bitterness, anger, nor revenge towards the two Black men that murdered my daughter-in-law,” Sam said. “I extend forgiveness for the two murderers. Revenge only begets more violence. My heart’s desire for them is that they would repent, to fall on their faces before the Lord Jesus, and cry out for mercy for their own souls’ sake.”
The Hochstetlers also have three other children, aged 16, 13 and 10, who were not present at the time of the shooting.
There is a GoFundMe page set up for Jonathan’s medical expenses and long road to recovery.
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