Moment jewellery store employees fend off robber who used bear spray on them
Astonishing footage reveals the moment a family fights off a robbery suspect armed with a hammer and bear spray who attempted to steal from their jewellery store.
The incident began when a large man wearing a Donald Trump mask casually strolled down a street lined with boutiques, carrying an empty cardboard box. He then whipped out a can of the potent bear repellant, blasting an old man in the face as he sat outside the targeted shop.
The older gentleman barely misses a beat, however, and jumps up to pursue the suspect inside the store — which he and his family own. A video from a security camera inside the store shows him wailing on the suspect with his fists, his face covered in the nasty red substance he was sprayed with.
The suspect fled the scene following the attack, shirtless with his pants falling down (CBS Sacramento)Other employees swiftly rush to the man's aid and get sprayed themselves in the process. One emerges with a large metallic-looking bar that they swing as a bat, and another rips the man's shirt off as he continues to spray them and swing his hammer about.
At one point, the footage shows him smashing a glass case in an attempt to snatch some jewellery before he's tackled by the employees.
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Shirtless, angry and embarrassed, the suspect leaves the store and runs down the street, his pants falling down as he does so. The employees continue to chase him for a short while, but he ultimately escapes.
The incident occurred at Joyeria Meza, which is located in El Monte, California, a city just east of Los Angeles. The police responded to the scene at around 2:20pm and say the man fled in a grey Dodge Charger, but they have yet to apprehend him, reported ABC7.
The suspect smashed glass cases full of jewellery in the attempted robbery (CBS Sacramento)One of the store's owners, who wished to remain anonymous in name, told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that the older man who was initially sprayed outside was her 70-year-old uncle.
"He wasn’t thinking about the gold," she told the outlet, referring to his heroic actions. "He was trying to defend his family."
Another of the owners told ABC7 that he heard his uncle screaming before he entered the store covered in bear spray. He was one of the first to jump to his uncle's aid, and he said: "I was trying do defend my family because, as you can see, he was hitting my dad and my uncle."
The jewellery store in El Monte that was almost robbed (Google Maps)The cops told local outlets that a few of the workers were treated for minor injuries.
Other smash-and-grabs have plagued Southern California in recent months and years, too, including several cases where employees fought back against the would-be robbers.
Last week, three men in masks pepper-sprayed the owner of a jewellery store in Pasadena and made off with nearly $500,000 (£396,160) worth of merchandise, reported the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Months before that, a few employees in a Los Angeles jewellery store fought a group of six smash-and-grabbers, who ultimately left empty handed — the employees were able to hold them off long enough for a security guard to show up with a gun, Fox 11 Los Angeles reported.
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