Gwinnett County police are crediting a barber and one of his customers with helping to apprehend a man who allegedly tried to rob them at gunpoint, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The incident happened about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Marcos Sandoval's A-Plus Barbershop at 6200 Buford Highway.
Sandoval was cutting the hair of a customer, Corey Ashe, and Ashe's wife and 2-year-old son were seated nearby when 23-year-old Brett Jonathan Gresham came in, police said. Gresham, of Buford, asked for a haircut and then to use the restroom.
Gresham returned from the restroom, "and once I turned to him, he had a .38 revolver in his hand asking me for money for my wallet," Sandoval told Channel 2.
The man said, "Give me all your money and cell phones, or I'll shoot everyone," according to a Gwinnett County Police Department incident report.
Sandoval said, "Once he pointed his gun to the wife and the kids, that's when my client reacted and fought for the gun."
Ashe sprang from the barber chair and lunged at Gresham, and the gun went off, wounding the father in the hand, police said. Sandoval, 21, joined the fray. The gun clattered to the ground, and the three men took their fight out into the parking lot.
As police arrived, Gresham allegedly broke away and began running. An officer chased him and shocked him with a stun gun. The man lay on the ground as Ashe came up and told the officer he had been shot and wounded.
Seeing the officer distracted, Gresham jumped up and began running again, police said. Officers pursued the suspect across Buford Highway and toward South Peachtree Street.
Gresham was struck by an arriving officer's patrol car and went down, but he jumped up and began running again, police said. Another officer hit him with a jolt from a stun gun.
"The suspect at that point shouted, 'I give up, you got me,'" police said.
Ashe and Gresham were taken to Gwinnett Medical Center, Lawrenceville -- Ashe, to be treated for his hand wound, and Gresham, for injuries stemming from his capture, police said.
At the hospital, Gresham told investigators, "I know it was a bad decision, but I'm homeless and was just trying to get enough money to eat and a place to stay," police said.
After being treated and released, Gresham was taken the Gwinnett County jail. He was being held there without bond Tuesday night, charged with three counts of armed robbery, four counts of aggravated assault and one count of cruelty to children, all felonies, jail records showed.
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