(FOX40.COM) — Employees at a 7/11 in Stockton, California, seemingly had enough.
Around 2:45 a.m. on Saturday, July 29, a man, believed to be experiencing homelessness, jumped behind the counter and started clearing the shelves as another man — who goes by the name Deda — stood there and watched for as long as he could take.
“The other gentleman stops him and holds him. The other employee grabs a stick and just starts going to town,” said Deda as he explained the video to FOX40.com from the same lens he filmed it through.
“I’m shocked like, ‘What am I watching? What am I seeing now?’” he added.
The scene sticks with Deda five days after he found himself as the lone bystander just stopping in to grab gas and an energy drink.
Deda continued to describe the robbery, saying, “There’s a guy who comes in and walks right directly behind me, goes around the counter and takes a big garbage can with a black bag in it, and starts unloading everything into it.”
The two 7/11 employees kept their distance as Deda distracted him, but the man reached for his waistline as if he had a gun.
“He kind of said, ‘I’ve got a strap. Back up,’” Deda recalled.
One employee called his bluff and wrestled him to the ground. His coworker swung a large wooden stick and hit him repeatedly.
Leaving with bruised legs, the man’s only break was Deda deciding to take off his shop owner hat and stop the man’s suffering.
“I wouldn’t put my hands on a customer. You know, I can replace the pants, or I could replace a hat, but I can’t replace a life.”
