Indy landlord faces kidnapping, armed robbery charges for allegedly threatening tenants at gunpoint

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis landlord is facing kidnapping and armed robbery charges after two of his tenants said he showed up at their door on the west side demanding cash.

All that interrupted early morning silence on Feb. 3 was the sound of Timothy Batchelor’s television, lulling him to sleep until around 3 a.m. when he heard knocking.

He now regrets answering the door.

“I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ and he was like, ‘You know what I’m here for,’” Batchelor said. “That’s when I realized, it was the landlord.”

Batchelor said his landlord, Jeffrey Salazar, was demanding an $800 rent payment. His brother, Gary, got up to handle it, so Timothy returned to his bedroom.

“I sit in my room for about maybe a minute, and that’s when I hear, ‘I’m going to kill you,’” Timothy said. “I walk out of the room, and I see a gun being drawn from his waistband, pointed at my brother’s head.”

Timothy then tried to diffuse the situation.

“That’s when he points the gun in my face, puts it to my head and (Salazar) was like, ‘I will kill you right now,’” Timothy said.

Timothy said tenants usually have until the end of the day on the third of each month to pay rent, but Salazar insisted he needed it right then, and things took another turn.

“As soon as I got my shoes on, (Salazar) tells me to come out here,” Timothy said. “I come out and he had the gun pointed right here, it was maybe an inch away from my back. And he guided me to his car, told me to get in.”

Gary called 911, watching as his brother complied and followed Salazar to the car.

“I was scared,” Gary said. “I was like, ‘I hope he don’t do nothing stupid that’s going to get him killed.”

Timothy said he suggested a nearby Speedway gas station — hoping to cross paths with a police officer along the way.

“I was over here a little worried because he’s swerving too on the road, along with a gun pointed at me,” Timothy said. “So, I’m like, shaking in the car. I didn’t know if I wanted to hop out or if I should stay in.”

Timothy said Salazar then followed him closely up to the ATM inside the gas station. Knowing the gun was still in his waistband, Timothy said all he could do was stay calm and get the money so nobody would end up hurt.

“The only thing I could think is, I got to save my family,” Timothy said. “I don’t care about myself or anything that happens to me, I just want them to be OK.”

He said Salazar dropped him off about a block away from home, knowing the police had been called there. Timothy ran back, happy to be alive.

“I was thankful that night that the cop was there for me,” Timothy said.

Court documents indicate Salazar had $2,067 in cash on him when he was arrested that night. Detectives also found a loaded 9mm handgun under his driver’s seat. One week later, Timothy can’t help but replay the memory over and over again.

“I feel like he’s going to come back and try to hurt me or my family,” Timothy said. “It’s just a constant feeling I have to feel.”