Customer disarms juvenile in armed robbery attempt
Oct 21, 2021, 1:40 PM
A U.S. Marine Corps veteran was able to disarm and detain a robbery suspect at an Arizona gas station. (Yuma County, Arizona, Sheriff's Office/Facebook)
(Yuma County, Arizona, Sheriff's Office/Facebook)
YUMA, Ariz. — An armed robbery in Arizona was foiled early Wednesday morning when a customer disarmed a gunman at a gas station and then detained one of three people involved until police arrived.
The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office released surveillance footage of the incident from the inside of a grocery-store portion of a Chevron gas station in Yuma, Arizona. The footage was taken at approximately 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The unidentified customer, who was a member of the United States Marine Corps, was close to one of three individuals who entered the store, apparently to rob it while prominently displaying a gun. The person with the gun, a juvenile according to the sheriff’s office, had his weapon pointed at the store’s employee, near the customer, but seemingly ignoring him and pointing the weapon past him.
The former Marine swiped up with his hand at the nearby gun and appears to then attack the would-be robber sending them both to the ground. The individual behind them is seen to scramble out of the store, seemingly in a panic.
“The Marine Corps taught me not to (mess) around,” the unidentified customer told deputies.
The person with the gun was detained and then was booked into the Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center according to Tania Pavlak with the sheriff’s office, who also said there are two people involved that have not yet been located. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and aggravated assault.
Anyone with info about the incident is asked to call the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office. Yuma is next to the borders of California and Mexico.
No injuries were reported and the case is still under investigation.
