BLOOMINGTON – A Bloomington Subway worker who shot a man during an altercation in July has been acquitted of attempted murder by a Monroe County Circuit Court 9 jury.
Jurors found Sean Rivers, 23, not guilty.
Rivers was represented by Public Defenders Justin D. Roddye, Kyle K. Dugger, and Noah Williams. Prosecuting the case for the state was Prosecutor Erika Oliphant and Deputy Prosecutor Alexander L Pierce. Judge Darcie Fawcett presided over the trial.
Rivers had been incarcerated since July after being arrested and charged in the case.
On Saturday, July 15, at approximately 1:25 p.m., officers with the Bloomington Police Department responded to a Subway restaurant in the 1800 block of North Kinser Pike after a shooting report.
Callers reported that a man had just shot another man and was last seen running south from the scene.
Officers arrived and located a 51-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his chest outside the restaurant near the dumpsters. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital by ambulance, where he underwent multiple emergency surgeries.
It was determined that the suspect was 22-year-old Sean Rivers, who was an employee at the restaurant.
According to court documents, Rivers told investigators he’d asked the man to move his truck because it was parked illegally. The two argued about it, and Rivers went inside the Subway and retrieved his backpack and gun. Their argument continued when Rivers came back outside. Rivers claimed the man lunged at him, leading him to fire his gun in self-defense.
After the shooting, Rivers ran home, where police found and arrested him on a charge of attempted murder.
