Midvale, Utah

From Salt Lake City’s KUTV.com of August 15, 2006

(Great surveillance video of scumbags turning tail and fleeing)

Armed Robber Picks The Wrong Pawn Shop To Hold Up

A man attempting to rob City Pawn decided that wasn't such a good idea when he discovered the clerk at the shop happened to be putting away a gun at the time.

Dumb luck you might call it, the owner of the shop here happened to be putting his guns in the glass case right as the robbers busted in. So he turned the tables on them.

City Pawn owner Bill Marinos says “it’s scary I’ve never experienced that before.”

Bill Marinos is still reeling from a shocking morning. A few minutes after he opened his store some unwelcome customers walked in; three men intent on robbing the place.

Surveillance cameras caught their every move.

Marinos says they, “pulled out the gun, cocked it, pointed it at me.”

Strange coincidence, right then, Bill was pulling out his guns for sale and putting them in the case. He raised the one in his hand and pointed right back at the burglar.

Marinos says the lead robber swore, “and ran out the door.”

He caught the robbers completely off-guard. One hardly made it over the threshold of the door before he was spun around and headed back out.

Bill ran out after them and saw them jump in a getaway car he was able to give police a detailed description.

Sgt. Ken Jarvis of the Midvale Police says, “the suspect vehicle is a red Mitsubishi Eclipse with a spoiler and tinted windows.”

Bill thinks the three men had been in his store the week before casing it. He says he's never wanted to pull a gun on anyone.

“It was more just trying to protect myself,” says Marinos, “protect my store and protect myself.”

This is the first time bill's faced a robber. He's been in the pawn business for 10 years and always has a loaded gun under the counter like a lot of pawn shops, probably not the wisest target for a robbery.