Current:Home > Finance'You're going to die': Shocking video shows Chick-fil-A worker fight off gunman -DataFinance
'You're going to die': Shocking video shows Chick-fil-A worker fight off gunman
View
Date:2025-04-17 02:00:37
With a gun to his face, a Chick-fil-A worker in Georgia fought off an armed robber threatening to shoot him, saying it was thoughts of his children that drove him to survive the brawl.
Employee Kevin Blair took on the would-be thief, who had smashed a drive-thru window to get into the closed store. The thief told Blair that "he was going to die" unless he opened the safe at the Chick-fil-A in Stone Mountain, a city just east of Atlanta, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Blair told officers he decided to fight because he did not know the safe's combination.
Surveillance footage captured the brawl in the kitchen area as the two fight over the gun for several minutes in the early morning hours of July 1. Blair managed to pull off the attacker's mask before the suspect fled through a rear exit door and disappeared by the time officers arrived.
Watch as Chick-fil-A-Driver fights off armed robbery suspect
Worker said he was not 'going to make it easy'
Blair tried explaining to the gunman that he does not have access to the safe but the robber remained "very, very adamant that if I didn’t open the safe that I was going to die," WANF-TV reported.
"Well, if you’re going to shoot me, I’m not going to make it easy," Blair told the station. "We’re trading blows ... I’m hitting him. He’s hitting me. He’s throwing knees. I’m doing a lot of blocking, but my main focus was on that pistol and keeping that pistol pointed away from me."
Even after Blair knocked the gun away, the two continued to fight until the suspect ran off, he added.
"The only thing that was going through my mind is, 'I want to see my kids,'" he told the station. "Either way, I think the situation was best played out the way it played out, because I’m talking to you today, and he’s behind bars."
Blair says he has worked as an inventory specialist at the fast-food chain for over a decade, including two and a half year at the Stone Mountain location, WANF-TV reported.
Suspect faces multiple charges including kidnapping
Police on Wednesday arrested 51-year-old Tommie Lee Williams in the attempted robbery. He faces charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault, second-degree burglary and kidnapping, among others.
While examining the area of the attempted robbery, investigators eventually identified the vehicle used to get to the Chick-fil-A, leading to the arrest, police said.
A Gwinnett County Clerk of Courts worker told USA TODAY on Thursday that it was probably too soon for Williams to be assigned an attorney. An initial hearing has not yet been scheduled, according to the public defender's office.
veryGood! (64765)
Related
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- Rare footage: Drone captures moose shedding both antlers. Why do moose antlers fall off?
- Mbongeni Ngema, South African playwright and 'Sarafina!' creator, dead at 68
- What stores are open and closed for New Year’s Eve 2023? See hours for Walmart, Target, CVS and more
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Oregon man reported missing on Christmas Day found alive in a dry well after 2 days
- Iran holds funeral for a general who was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria
- AP Week in Pictures: North America
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- What looked like a grenade caused a scare at Oregon school. It was a dog poop bag dispenser.
Ranking
- Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
- Grinch, driving distracted, crashes car into New Hampshire business on Christmas: Police
- Russia unleashes one of the year’s biggest aerial barrages against Ukrainian targets
- As Gaza war grinds on, tensions soar along Israel’s volatile northern border with Lebanon
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- Russell Wilson signals willingness to move on in first comment since Broncos benching
- Kremlin opposition leader Alexey Navalny moved to Arctic penal colony but doing well, spokesperson says
- A rebel group in the Indian state of Assam signs a peace accord with the government
Recommendation
Sam Taylor
Illinois basketball guard Terrence Shannon Jr. suspended, charged with rape in Kansas
Lulus’ End of the Year Sale Shines with $17 Dresses, $15 Bodysuits, $11 Tops & More
San Antonio police release video of persons of interest in killing of pregnant Texas teen Savanah Soto and boyfriend Matthew Guerra
What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
Jacksonville mayor removes Confederate monument while GOP official decries 'cancel culture'
'Music was there for me when I needed it,' The Roots co-founder Tariq Trotter says
Mbongeni Ngema, South African playwright and creator of ‘Sarafina!’, is killed in a car crash at 68