Customer Snaps Into Action When He Walks In on Armed Robbery at Restaurant
An armed man met his match — and his end — on Sunday night after aiming his weapon at the wrong person, according to police.
According to KYW-TV, police said a 53-year-old man entered a Philadelphia Wingstop restaurant around 10 p.m. and ordered employees to empty the cash register.
Moments later, when a man in his late 20s arrived to pick up an order, the robber and his firearm greeted him.
From behind the counter, the suspect, wearing gloves and a mask, ordered the customer — who was using his cellphone — to hand it over, WPVI-TV reported. Instead, the customer pulled out his own weapon and fired one shot.
The bullet struck the suspected thief in the neck, police said. The man fell behind the counter and was later reported dead at the scene.
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small classified the customer as “a victim because he had the gun pointed at him,” KYW reported.
KYW’s Howard Monroe reported police were still investigating but early indications were that the customer “was justified in the shooting.”
WPVI reported the customer has a permit to carry his weapon and the suspected robber had “some prior run-ins with the law.”
“We have his [the customer’s] weapon,” Small told the station. “We know one shot was fired from that customer, because we found one spent shell casing on the floor, on the customer’s side of the counter.”
According to both news outlets, the customer and three employees, who were unharmed during the attempted robbery, were cooperating with police.
Officers were checking Wingstop’s surveillance video to see if it matched the eyewitness accounts. If so, police told WPVI that “it does not look like he [the customer] will face any charges.”
WTXF-TV reported police said the case was “likely to be very quickly ruled justifiable.”
Latest Philadelphia homicide “likely to be very quickly ruled justifiable” @phillypolice tell FOX29 News. 53 yr old armed robber with prior arrests was in mid-hold up of WINGSTOP on Cottman Ave past 10pm & was shot&killed by customer with concealed carry permit @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/1ZkZQXGVgE
— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) November 30, 2020
Although authorities said the shooting appeared to be justified, Twitter was divided on the incident.
One person sympathized with the alleged robber, claiming he was “trying to do right by his family” in holding up the Wingstop. Another countered by calling that the “dumbest tweet of the day.”
Dumbest tweet of the day and it’s only 10 AM. Well done.
— JohnnieSags (@agovino_john) November 30, 2020
Someone suggested the robber’s family will likely file a lawsuit.
I’m sure the robbers family will sue saying that no one should die bc they are robbing a wing joint, and there will be those that think that mentality is normal
— Jonesy (@jones_twj) November 30, 2020
Many complimented the customer, one calling him “a good guy with a gun” and others saying the incident was an example of why we need the Second Amendment.
Only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
— Ashley Crowbar (@Abom27) November 30, 2020
That’s why we have a 2nd amendment folks
— Chris Caruso (@CarusoChris) November 30, 2020
WTFX reported the incident was one of more than a dozen shootings over the weekend in Philadelphia, with at least 20 people injured.
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