‘You picked the wrong guy’: jeweller chases off armed robber with baseball bat

Devon & Cornwall Police have released CCTV footage of an attempted armed robbery after the owner of a jewellery store successfully chased the suspect away. 

The robbery, which took place at Coopers Jewellers in Barnstaple on the afternoon of Thursday May 28, was unsuccessful after the store’s owner, David Bruce, chased the armed robber off with a baseball bat.

Speaking after the event, Bruce told the BBC that the man had entered the store and “slapped a big fat bag on the counter and asked me to fill it”. Bruce, who has been a black belt in Judo since the age of 18, told the suspect that he had “picked the wrong guy”.

He said that the suspect thought he was going to the safe but he picked up a baseball bat, the suspect then pointed a gun at Bruce who “instinctively cracked him on the wrist with the baseball bat and the gun fired”.

Bruce was not injured by the shot and he hit the man another two times with “real force behind the blows” before chasing the suspect out of the store. He said that the man was “caught totally unawares” and added “I come from a school of hard knocks. I wasn’t scared.”

Bruce described the suspect as wearing a full latex mask with a scarf and sunglasses and added he “looked weird, like a cyborg with sunglasses”.

Police said that they believed the suspect was using a blank firing weapon, and reassured the public they “live in a safe part of the country where incidents of this type are rare”.

Detective Inspector Praveen Naidoo, the senior investigating officer said: “We believe that the suspect was using a blank firing weapon. The man is also wearing a mask in the photo; it is possible that this may have been discarded by the offender leaving the scene.

“If any member of the public comes across the mask we’d ask that they contact the police. Also whilst the coat appears darker in the images, witnesses describe it as a light sandy colour.

“The offender may well have received injuries as a result of this incident and it is likely that someone in the community knows who is responsible. I’d encourage them to come forward.”

Police have urged any members of the public who may have witnessed the event to contact police on 101 quoting log 596 of May 28, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.