A firearm isn’t the only weapon that can be used to defend your life, liberty and property.
A Las Vegas smoke shop owner demonstrated this last week when he fought back against a masked robber with a knife.
Johnny Nguyen, the owner of Smokestrom Smoke Shop, found himself face-to-face with two suspicious masked men seconds after they entered the business on Wednesday, security video of the incident shows.
“Why are you guys wearing masks like that?” Nguyen asked.
The men responded with ominous silence.
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“Can you guys just leave?”
One crook responded by grabbing a tip jar. Nguyen told the masked thief to keep the paper money but asked him to give back the coins, at least.
“I need the coins,” he said.
The man responded by grabbing another item.
Were this store owner’s actions justified?
Seconds later, when the second thug jumped the shop counter, Nguyen went into action.
The entrepreneur grabbed a well-placed knife next to the cash register.
The shop owner stabbed the man multiple times. The man cried out in pain, surrendering after an attempt to punch back.
The knife had a three-inch blade, according to the New York Post.
“I was scared for my life,” store owner Johnny Nguyen. 22, told the Post in an interview Friday. “When they came in, one of them had a bag in front of him like he had a firearm or something. I didn’t have much time to think. I grabbed my knife right next to the register.”
Nguyen shared video of the foiled robbery with Las Vegas KLAS-TV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCu4G_ZkBI0
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police told KVVU that two juveniles had been arrested in connection with the incident, and that they were still looking for a third suspect. They did not say how badly the suspect who was stabbed was injured, KVVU reported.
Nguyen plans to obtain a firearm for self-defense after the foiled robbery.
“I don’t know who their friends with, maybe they want to come back and do something else, so I just must stay vigilant,” he told KVVU-TV.
Rising rates of property crimes and robberies have spurred business owners in urban areas to take steps to ensure their safety and property personally.
In California on July 31, an 80-year old liquor store owner sent an AR-15-armed robber running with one blast of a shotgun at his Riverside County business.
#WATCH: “He shot my arm off,” cries would-be robber after 80 year old #Norco store owner shoots him with a shotgun. Four arrested, one remains in hospital. Store owner expected back at work. pic.twitter.com/i3LAVdv5WL
— Jeff Vaughn (@JeffVaughn) August 2, 2022
The liquor store owner suffered a heart attack as a result of the attempted robbery, an employee told KLAS-TV, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.
CORRECTION, Aug. 7, 2022: This post originally misstated the location of the July 31 incident in which an 80-year-old store owner used a shotgun to defend his business against an armed robbery. The incident took place in Riverside County, an interior county southeast of Los Angeles.
