Employees at a California novelty goods store were so fed up with the robberies that they tackled the last suspected thief to the ground after brazenly stealing from the store.
Unfortunately, the man was armed and fled after threatening the workers.
incident rolled out on Friday At the Into the Retroverse store in Colton City around 8 p.m.
Employees said the robber entered the store wearing a mask and surgical gloves and began filling a bag with thousands of dollars worth of Pokemon cards.
“He just started carrying things and said, ‘I need money, I need money,’ and that’s when his friend Alex attacked him,” Arturo Garcia told KTLA-TV. ” he said.
The worker pushed the display case at the thief, and the rest of the workers grappled with him.
“I tried to throw him to the ground, but then he got tired and took out his gun,” Alexander Sanchez Bernal said.
The man pointed a gun at them, grabbed other merchandise and fled the store.
Bernal said the suspect told him as he was leaving that he wished he had shot him.
“I was scared. I was scared of what was going to happen, I was scared for my guys, I was scared for everything,” Bernal said.
Giovanne Bernal, Alexander Bernal’s brother and the store’s owner, told KTLA he released the video in hopes someone will see it and help police identify and catch the suspect. . He added that although the store has only been open for seven months, it has already been robbed three times.
He told KTLA that the store was a childhood dream.
“It’s terrible,” the owner added. “You spend your life building it, and then someone comes in and says, “I’ll take it on, and this is the situation.”
The center’s management would only say that it was “working” to improve security.
“We’ve had three break-ins in the last six or seven months, and they’re still responding,” Bernal added.
KTLA said it has reached out to Colton City Plaza management for comment.
Colton is a city of approximately 54,000 people located approximately 90 miles east of Los Angeles.
Video of the incident is below.
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