Store Clerk Pulls Out Gun in Response to Threat

UPDATE 4:50 p.m.: The store employee has been identified as store manager Matthew Bzura, 37, in media reports.

Threatened with a knife to his throat just outside the on Main Street, the store manager pulled out a handgun and chased off three men, one of which had just knocked over a store sign, on Thursday night, Bethlehem police said.

Police are seeking the public’s help in getting the identities of the men involved in the confrontation on Main Street. Today, police released surveillance photos from their visit to the store at 535 Main St.

The manager from Cigars International, Matthew Bzura, has a license to carry a concealed weapon in Northampton County, police said.

The incident happened a little before 9 p.m. police said. The three men gave Bzura a hard time when he asked them all for identification before they could make their tobacco purchase. The manager explained to them that he is required by law to ask for ID from anyone who appears to be under 27-years-old.

When the men left the store, Bzura heard the sign outside get knocked down and he went out to check, police said. When he questioned the three men about the sign, one of the men threatened him by placing what was described as a “cold metal object” to his throat, which Bzura believed was a knife.

Bzura then pulled out his handgun and the three men ran east on Walnut Street without saying a word, police said.

The men are described like this:

The one who brandished the knife was a light-skinned black man, about 30 years old, wearing a light colored knit cap with earflaps. The cap had what appeared to be a Target or Captain America shield on the front, gray zip-up jacket and blue jeans.

White male #1 was in his 20s or 30s, wearing a gray hooded jacket and a Mets baseball cap.

White male #2 was also in his 20s or 30s and described by a witness as looking like Eddie Munster. He had dark hair, sideburns and a slightly receding hairline and was wearing a black jacket and a white T-shirt.

Anyone with any information about the three men or the incident is asked to call the at 610-865-7187.