Patrick Mcmahon
An attempted robbery at a Fresno, Calif., Starbucks location became a failed robbery after a 58 year-old customer intervened with a chair, and it was all captured on surveillance camera.
Videos by Rare
According to a Fresno Police Department report of the incident and the Miami Herald, suspect Ryan Michael Florez, 30, entered the Starbucks around 5 p.m. local time last Thursday.
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Surveillance video shows the robbery suspect approach the register carrying a yellow bag and wearing a mask resembling Optimus Prime, a “Transformers” character. The suspect pulls out a gun — which police say was a replica — as well as a knife, pointing both at the cashier.
Local man Cregg Jerri, 58, sat at a nearby table. The vigilante-to-be was described to the Herald as a “regular” and a man who knows the baristas by name.
Jerri, seeing and hearing what was happening at the register, grabbed a chair. A security camera behind the register captures Jerri as he approaches the suspect with his chair over his head and brings it down on the suspect’s head and body twice. The blunt impact knocks his mask off.
A short fight — police say it lasted a minute, give or take — took place afterwards, with both the suspect and Jerri receiving stab wounds. Fresno Police say Florez fled the scene after his robbery attempt was humiliatingly thwarted, but he was captured on Friday.
Jerri required a handful of stitches for stab wounds he received; Florez is still in the hospital with knife wounds, which he says happened when he became the victim of a robbery.
Once booked, he will face charges of attempted armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.
