Uber Eats driver shoots man during attempted robbery at IHOP, Memphis police say

A man is in critical condition after police said he was shot by an Uber Eats driver during an attempted robbery outside the IHOP in Whitehaven Thursday morning.

Police responded to a robbery call at 12:41 a.m. in the parking lot of the restaurant at 1277 E. Shelby Drive.

When officers arrived they found a man on the ground with gunshot wounds.

Exchanging fire in an IHOP parking lot

An Uber Eats driver told police that he arrived at the restaurant around 12:30 a.m. to pick up a food delivery. He said as he got in his car, a man approached, pointed a gun at him and demanded his car keys and money, according to a police incident report.

The driver said he reached in the console of his 2016 Hyundai, retrieved his .40-caliber gun and fired twice.

The men who attempted to rob the driver returned fire, police said.

One man shot during the gunfire exchange and was taken to the Regional Medical Center. Police said two other men with him ran from the scene.

The driver and his wife, who was in the passenger seat during the shooting, were not injured. The woman told police she ducked down when the gunfire started.

Police said one of the men who allegedly attempted to rob the driver showed up later at the hospital and was taken into custody but he has not been charged yet.

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Police are still searching for a third man who fled after the shooting.

Investigators said the three men in the IHOP attempted robbery match the description of three men connected to an earlier robbery.

The Thursday morning shooting at the IHOP is the second time recently that a shooting has occurred at the restaurant.

Last May, Devin Wilson, a 27-year-old Air Force veteran, was shot and later died after a man shot him as he tried to protect a woman at the restaurant.