HollyMatkinBarre, MA – A group of pizza shop employees tackled a would-be robber on Tuesday evening, after the masked man with a gun burst into the store and demanded cash.
Northeast Pizza surveillance video showed the armed robbery suspect as he charged towards the front counter.
“He appeared big in stature, but it was just pillows stuffed under his coat to make himself appear bigger,” employee Trevor Kosla told the Telegram & Gazette.
With his gun in one hand, the robber threw a bag at an employee behind the counter, and demanded cash.
“He jumped over the counter and had the gun pointed at my friend’s head while choking him against the wall,” Kosla told WHDH.
Moments later, Kosla saw an opportunity to catch the robber off-guard.
“I made a choice to act, and I grabbed him with my right arm around the neck from behind and tried to force him down to the ground,” he told the Telegram & Gazette.
As the altercation ensued, the man pointed his gun at Kosla’s head, prompting the employee’s brother to jump in.
Kosla said his brother “landed a good punch” on the suspect during the fight, and that the robber also lost his weapon.
The suspect attempted to flee as the group tumbled into the restaurant’s lobby.
“My brother actually body slammed him on the ground,” Kosla said.
Then he said he took over, and held the suspect in place while officers responded to the scene.
“He kept telling me, ‘You know me, you know who I am. It’s Sean,’” Kosla said.
The group soon realized that the would-be robber was their former manager, 30-year-old Sean Coulson, FOX News reported.
“He kept yelling at me to stop, that it was a joke. I said, ‘I don’t care who you are, this is not a joke,’” Kosla told WHDH.
Kosla said that Coulson continued to fight him the entire time he held him down, and that he became angrier the more he processed the fact that the assailant was his former co-worker.
“I was so exhausted. My arms literally felt like Jell-O,” Kosla told the Telegram & Gazette.
Police arrived and took Coulson into custody, and police discovered that his gun was a replica.
Kosla said that up until that point, he “absolutely” believed it to be a real firearm.
Coulson was charged with armed and masked robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, and disturbing the peace, FOX News reported.
Employees said he was fired from the business after he came to work drunk and gave out free pizza, WCVB reported.
Steve Barret, the owner of Northeast Pizza, said that he had fired Coulson in July of 2017. He commended the brave actions of his employees.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a hero by any means,” Trevor Kosla told the Telegram & Gazette. “I just did what I had to do and what I felt was right.”
Watch surveillance video of the thwarted robbery below: