BLOOMINGTON — A former Hardee’s employee in Bloomington is facing felony charges after chasing a vehicle with a loaded gun when the driver of that vehicle stole $20 worth of food from the drive-thru.
According to Bloomington Police, Jesse Vanderburgh, 25, grabbed his girlfriend’s AR-15-style pistol out of her vehicle and ran after a car as it left the restaurant parking lot on West Third Street, near Interstate 69.
Court documents say police were called on the afternoon of Dec. 28, 2022, because somebody reported a person walking in and out of the restaurant with a firearm.
The Bloomington Police Department log says someone failed to pay for $20 worth of food while at the drive-through.
Police obtained a security video showing Vanderburgh running to his girlfriend’s car to get the weapon from the back seat, then running after the other vehicle before he walked back to the car, then into the Hardee’s while still carrying the weapon. It shows Vanderburg returning to the car and talking to a woman. Police say the whole time, he was holding the pistol and waving it around.
Police arrested Vanderburgh the next day at his home on charges of illegally carrying a firearm. Vanderburgh pleaded guilty to two felony charges in 2018 preventing him from illegally carrying a firearm.
