Police say an attempted robbery at a Fresno, California, Starbucks failed after a 58-year-old customer intervened with a chair – and it was all captured on surveillance camera.
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.
Surveillance video shows the man, identified by police as Florez, approach the register carrying a yellow bag and wearing a mask resembling Optimus Prime, a “Transformers” character. He then appears to pull out a gun — which police say was a replica — as well as a knife, pointing both at the cashier.
Customer Cregg Jerri, 58, sat at a nearby table. The vigilante-to-be was described to the Herald as a "regular" 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 captured Jerri as he approached the suspect with his chair over his head and brings it down on the suspect’s head and body twice. The blunt impact knocks off his mask.
A short fight — police say it lasted about a minute — took place afterward, with both the suspect and Jerri receiving stab wounds. Fresno police said Florez fled the scene, but he was captured Friday.
Jerri required a handful of stitches for stab wounds he received; Florez reportedly is still in the hospital with knife wounds, which he said 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.
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