Armed Robber Staring at Cash Completely Misses Cop Walk Up, Stare & Stick Gun in His Face

By C. Douglas Golden

Published December 14, 2019 at 10:29am

We don’t usually give tips to armed robbers here at The Western Journal, seeing as how they’re probably not the biggest demographic to target and they also don’t have a lot of computer time in the slammer. Also, people who take stuff forcefully from other people tend to be Democrats anyway.

However, there’s a very remedial lesson at least one armed robber seems to be in need of, so I think that’s worth stressing. It falls under the basic aegis of situational awareness. Namely, if you’re robbing a joint, it’s helpful if you notice if there’s anyone else in the store — like, say, someone with a gun.

But how do you know if they have a gun, you might ask? This is a good question: If they’re a police officer in uniform, that’s generally a good sign they might have a firearm. It’ll help if you keep track if one of those is in the store.

The Part that Saved the Day

Thomas Zekos of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, allegedly didn’t pay attention to what one would think is a cardinal rule of the armed robbery game.

According to WBZ-TV, when Newton Police Lt. Dave Tempesta went to the Corner Mini-Mart on Dec. 3, he was in uniform but off duty. He’s a favorite of clerk Charlie Patel.

“He’s my friend. If he [doesn’t] come, I call him. What happened to coffee?” Patel said.

Well, he came on Dec. 3 — “Two minutes before! The cop [got] here! Two minutes!” Patel said — right before the alleged armed robber came in.

According to reports, without noticing that Lt. Tempesta was in the store, the robber decided to pull a knife on Patel.

“After opening the knife, oh my God. Something’s wrong! He said ‘Open the register!’ [It was a] big knife,” Patel said.

As the armed robber was emptying the register, he didn’t quite seem to notice the police officer in uniform walk up to him until Tempesta pulled his gun. That’s when the two began struggling.

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Poster Comment:

Ooops.