Note: we are republishing this story, which originally made the news in April 2018.
A minute-long footage from a butcher shop in Mexico showed a man stepping into the butcher shop slash convenient store. He promptly pulled out a handgun from under his navy hoodie and pointed it at the woman behind the counter.
She doesn’t move an inch, except to wave a notebook in front of her face a few times. It takes about 40 seconds for her to reach for the phone.
Screenshot from the CCTV footage of the robber pointing a gun at the gentleman in the cowboy hat, Photo Credit: BBC News
The gunman then points his gun at the man standing in front of the counter, who has a gray mustache and a cowboy hat. He seems even calmer than the cashier, as he shakes his head after the gunman talks to him, before pulling off his glasses.
As the interaction between the two unfolds, a woman walks to the front of the store, oblivious to what is happening. The gunman turns his gun to her, giving the man in the cowboy hat the opening he needed.
Screenshot from the CCTV footage of the gentleman in the cowboy hat tackling the gunman, Photo Credit: BBC News
The older lunges forward and grabs the gunman, overwhelming him until the gun drops to the floor. The gunman flails and struggles, and the two stagger into an aisle.
A butcher walks into the frame and is seen grabbing the gun from the floor before scurrying away.
The gunman, at this point, has somehow slipped from his hoodie, and is seen rushing to the door, shirtless. The man in the cowboy hat and two butchers catch him at the door and pin him down.
The store, Carnes Cares of Monterrey, Mexico, posted the video of the incident on its Facebook page, attracting tens of thousands of views.
Screenshot from the CCTV footage of the gentleman in the cowboy hat and another employee manhandling the gunman, Photo Credit: BBC News
While some claimed that the video was fake, Daniel Cardenas, the store’s co-owner, maintained that the incident was real, and terrifying.
Cardenas told The Washington Post that the gunman had been at the store a few days earlier, possibly to stake it out.
The cowboy hat hero turned out to be Cardenas’ dad, Reynaldo Cardenas, and the co-owner of the store. According to Cardenas, his father later admitted to being scared, despite his cool demeanor on camera.
Screenshot from the CCTV footage of the gentleman in the cowboy hat and another employee manhandling the gunman, Photo Credit: BBC News
“Actually, he told me that he acted that way out of fear,” Cárdenas wrote on Facebook messages. “He really believed that the man was going to shoot them. When he had the chance, he acted instinctively to disarm him.”
Police arrived at the scene about 10 minutes following the scuffle and took the gunman into custody.
“I’m just glad he wasn’t hurt,” Cardenas said of his father.
Sources: The Washington Post
