Quick thinking and swift action by some employees at a San Antonio dry cleaners put a suspected robber behind bars, and may have also saved their lives.
Last Thursday morning at Pope's Cleaners on the South Side, Maria Garcia was working the cash register when a man came into the shop.
Surveillance video shows the man coming in just like a regular customer.
"He acted like he was going to get his wallet out," Garcia said.
Instead, police said, he pulled out a gun, demanding money from the register.
Garcia said she opened the cash drawer as she was told, but there wasn't much money inside. She said the suspect got mad and asked her where more money was.
"When I saw the gun, I started shaking," Garcia said. "I didn't know if he was going to shoot me or not. It was an ugly feeling."
Another employee, Sylvia Trevino, told the suspect that the owner had the money and that they were in the back.
The robber pointed his gun at both women and led them to the back of the store.
As soon as Garcia opened the back door, she said she ran.
"That gave me time to run and warn my boss that he had a gun," she said. "So, by the time he walked up to where my boss was, he knew he had a gun."
Trevino said the owner knocked the gun out of the suspect's hand and told her to run. The owner held the man there until police arrived.
Employees later found out that the gun the man had was a B.B gun, but Garcia said she is just glad he is behind bars.