"I was thinking I hope they don't kill me. I hope they leave," said the Dollar General worker who began to fight one of two robbers when he figured it might be his only chance to survive the holdup on Detroit's west side Thursday night.
It happened shortly after 10:00 pm as the workers were locking up the store for the night.
Two men, at least one of them armed with a handgun, approached the workers and ordered them back inside the store.
One assailant told the female worker that he would kill her if she screamed as he ordered her to open the safe.
The other assailant stood watch over the male employee we'll call "Brian."
"The gentleman that was watching me, he was fidgeting like he was nervous or he was about to pull something out his pockets. So, at that point, we began to fight," said Brian who sustained multiple injuries to his head.
Brian's coworker says she begged the man holding her at gunpoint not to kill her for the sake of her children.
Before the robbers left with a small amount of cash, they both were involved in the assault on Brian who was left with multiple injuries to his head.
They called 911 and Detroit Police were on the scene quickly because they were also responding to the alarm that was tripped when the robbers forced the workers back into the store after the alarm had been set.
Dollar General released the following statement:
Dollar General serves the Detroit community by providing customers with everyday value and convenience through our stores in the area. The safety of our employees and customers is a top priority and we employ a number of safety and security measures to prevent, deter, and if necessary, respond to criminal activity in our stores. To protect the measure of those measures, we do not comment on them specifically.
As a local business and community stakeholder, we continue to work collaboratively with local law enforcement on this case.
Anyone with any information is urged to call Detroit Police 2nd precinct detectives at 313-596-5240.
