Holly MatkinWauwatosa, WI – A suspect who pretended to be armed while he robbed a gas station on Saturday was chased down and pummeled by an enraged customer.
The incident occurred at the Speedway gas station on North Avenue at approximately 4 p.m., when the suspect stormed into the business and acted as if he had a gun hidden in his pocket, WISN reported.
The robber stole cigarettes and cash from the cashier, then fled from the business.
Calmonta Harris said he was fueling up his vehicle outside when his sister – the Speedway cashier – came running out of the store in hysterics.
“She said, ‘Brother! Brother! The man just robbed me!’” he told WISN. “I said, ‘What man?’ She said, ‘That man right there.’”
Harris spotted the suspect crossing the street, so he got into his car and chased after him.
Security footage from a nearby home showed Harris as he closed in on the suspect just as he was reaching a parked vehicle.
Harris ran into the robber with his car, knocking him to the ground.
He then threw his vehicle into reverse and began screaming commands at the suspect.
“Where’s it at?” Harris yelled. “Pull it out mother–ker!”
When the suspect failed to produce a gun, Harris jumped out of his car and charged at him, punching him in the head, the video showed.
“Where’s it at?” he demanded to know. “Where’s the f–king gun at?”
Harris dragged the suspect across the pavement for a moment before heading back to his vehicle to grab a hammer.
“Put it down!” he ordered the suspect, just before he struck him with the hammer. “Put it down, n—-r! Put it down!”
Harris later denied having “hit” the robber with the hammer, but admitted that he did “kinda tap him with it,” WISN reported.
He kicked the suspect at least once just moments before police arrived at the scene.
“I wasn’t trying to intentionally beat the man up, but if he came out, he robbed the gas station with my little sister, so I don’t know what else I can [do],” Harris told WISN. “It’s all about my little sister.”
Wauwatosa police arrested the unnamed suspect for robbery with weapon implied.
Harris, who had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant for domestic battery, was also arrested.
Harris is not facing any new charges for beating the robber.
He said he has no regrets about how he handled the situation with the robber, and offered him a piece of advice.
“Bet you won’t rob no more gas stations – I’ll tell you that,” he told WISN.
You can see the security camera footage in the clip below: