Robbery At Headlines Thwarted by Employee, Customer

If you were standing in a checkout line waiting to pay, and man walked up to the cashier and gestured with what looked like a gun in his pocket, demanding money, what would you do?

Oscar Villacis didn't know, either, until Sunday night when it happened to him at Headlines gift shop on East Hollis Street. 

"We were cashing out and this guy came over and approached the counter and said to the guy behind the counter, 'You're gonna empty out the cash register.' He had his hand in his jacket pocket and was holding it over the counter, like he had a gun," said Villacis.

"First thing I did was told my girlfriend to run," he said. "The guy behind the counter said, 'No, I can't do that, but if you want to speak to my manager, you can. And then I said to the guy, 'Dude, I hope that's a real gun, for your sake.' He looked at me and he looked at the guy behind the counter, and I guess he could see our demeanor, and he ran out of the store," Villacis said.

Another employee, also behind the counter, yelled to the manager that the store was being robbed, but the robber took off, empty handed.

Villacis said he was able to give police a pretty good description of the man, who was wearing a green hat and sunglasses. The hat fell off as the robber ran down East Hollis Street, which Villacis retrieved and gave to police. 

He never saw a gun displayed, and said he isn't convinced there was a gun. 

"I feel like if you have a gun and you come into a place to rob it, you don't come in and quietly demand money. You come in hot blazing," Villacis said. "At least, that's what I think, maybe just from watching too many movies."

He said he noticed the man inside the store before he approached the cashier.

"He was just standing in the store looking around. When someone asked if they could help him, he said he was just waiting for a friend. He just stood quiet," Villacis said.

Villacis said he can't really explain why he challenged the would-be robber – except that in a world of people with fight or flight instincts, his inner "fight" kicked in.

"This is my city. You know how Obama says 'We don't cooperate with terrorists'? Well, we don't cooperate with robbers," Villacis said.

After the ordeal, Villacis said his adrenaline was running pretty high.

"It all started sinking in – I was standing there when this guy tried to rob Headlines, you know?" Villacis said. "After that, I went to see my mother for Mother's Day. It was pretty crazy."