The frightening incident thwarted by an armed good guy happened on Sept. 13 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It was closing time, and local media reported that 20-year-old Nicolas Richard Lee Deas and another man claiming to have left a cellphone in the store.
The staffer let Deas and the other man inside, but that’s when the situation rapidly changed. According to the Ft. Lauderdale Police arrest report, Deas told the employee to hand over money “or I will kill you.”
The employee took the alleged robbers to the store’s safe where they put $1,200 into a bag. Police said Deas then pistol-whipped the clerk in the neck and elbow. Once again, the situation was about to quickly change.
A neighboring store owner heard the commotion and raced to the scene. The owner was armed, and that made all the difference in the outcome of the violent confrontation. He ordered Deas to drop the weapon and lie on the floor. Deas did as he was told, though his alleged accomplice fled.
The suspect was kept on the floor at gunpoint until police arrived. Deas is being held without bond on charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, grand theft of a firearm and illegally carrying a concealed firearm.
Police said the gun used in the attempted robbery was stolen.
The identity of the accomplice has not been revealed and it is uncertain whether he’s been taken into custody. It is also unclear whether the other man got away with the cash from the Family Dollar.
It is obvious that the clerk never should have let the two men inside the store after closing under the guise of retrieving a cellphone. It is also certain, however, that the neighboring store owner who intervened may have saved the employee’s life.
There is no doubt that these stores have security systems, and as is often said, the police are just a phone call away. Neither, however, amounted to any difference in the plight of the clerk being attacked in a robbery.
Only the presence of a courageous bystander who had the good sense to be armed dramatically changed the outcome.
