Jul 25, 2008 1:32 pm US/Eastern
Vigilante Justice: NYC Storeowners Fight Back!
Brothers Defend Brooklyn Bodega With Machetes, Large Carving Knives; Fight Off Would-Be Thieves
Video Shows Owners Confronting Suspects Until Police Arrive
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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A camera was rolling at a Bay Ridge deli, capturing an altercation between two brave storeowners and three would-be thieves.
CBS
Some storeowners in Brooklyn who were fed up with thieves took matters into their own hands. The episode of vigilante justice was caught on tape, as two brothers used machetes and large knives to fend off three criminals, who also had weapons of their own. As the camera rolled, the lines between good and evil were drawn.
"You never know. This is a business. There's always someone trying to rip us off," Mohammed Othman said Thursday night.
But the would-be robbers picked the wrong store. Mohammed Othman was working the register at S & J Meat Market in Bay Ridge when three men entered his family's deli and asked to use the store's bathroom. Both Mohammed and brother Sammy knew something was up.
"There's someone up there robbing us so I came here and grabbed two knives. I grabbed them and ran upstairs," Sammy Othman told CBS 2 HD.
"Once I heard all that noise I picked up the machete," Mohammed added.
The brothers then ran up the stairs and saw that the suspects were stealing $2,000 worth of cigarettes. Sammy and Mohammed weren't going to let that happen.
"Right when he was coming down, I just swung, boom. I ended up hitting his legs," Mohammed said.
"We started fighting in the front [of the store]," Sammy added. "There were five guys, three against two."
Sammy ran nearly two blocks after the suspect and chased them into another deli where surveillance cameras captured the whole confrontation.
The video shows Sammy face to face with one suspect in a white tank top who pulls out his own weapon.
"He had a knife on him and he said, 'I will stab you,' and I told him 'Don't even think about it," Sammy said. "My knife is more bigger than yours. Don't even think about it.'"
Sammy was able to keep the suspects at the deli until police arrived.
A third suspect was caught when he tried calling one of the other suspect's cell phone, which had fallen out inside the meat market. Who answered the phone? Mohammed Othman, who then asked the suspect where he was. The suspect told him and that's where police found him and quickly placed him under arrest.
No one was injured in the altercation.
But justice was served!
CBS 2 HD's Hazel Sanchez contributed to this report
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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