9-year-old with a pellet gun scares a carjacker away from his dad's truck

Alex Eriksen


A 9-year-old boy in Indiana stopped a would-be carjacker on Christmas Day from making off with his father’s truck.

Kevin Cooksey was inside the One Stop Express gas station in Kokomo buying ibuprofen for his wife when a man jumped into the driver’s seat of his truck. Cooksey had left the engine running and the door unlocked.

“When I saw my truck door open, I was like, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to tell my wife?’” Cooksey told 13 WTHR.

His son, Larry, was sitting in the back seat. “As soon as he opened the door, I got scared,” said Larry. “So I pulled out the pellet gun and pointed it to his head.”

This was enough to make the carjacker think twice and he hopped out of the truck to try another car. Parked beside Cooksey’s truck was Kyle Sparling’s black Trailblazer. He too had left the engine running as he went into the store. The man got in Sparling’s SUV and took off.

“I didn’t know what to think, I just kind of ran outside and watched him,” said Sparling.

As the man sped off, Cooksey told Sparling to get into his truck and the two men gave chase. The icy winter conditions made the driving treacherous, but the pair followed at a safe distance as the carjacker drove erratically. “It was doing donuts, zigzags, almost flipped,” said Larry.

After a few miles the carjacker crashed into the sign of a local business, American Tool and Party Rental. Cooksey and Sparling called police to the scene.

Police arrested 32-year-old Ollie Dunn and charged him with attempted auto theft, never obtaining a license, unauthorized entry in a motor vehicle and vehicle theft.

Sparling’s car sustained some damage near the wheel well, and the windscreen got cracked after the sign fell on it. “I was just glad he didn’t wreck into anybody,” Sparling said. “That was my biggest fear, I think.”

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