Pawn shop owner escapes as masked gunman burglarizes store

MCDONOUGH, Ga (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A McDonough pawn shop owner escaped with her life Friday afternoon after a dangerous encounter with a masked intruder. McDonough police said the gun-toting masked man burst into the Kwik Kash Pawn shop around 4:30 p.m.

“There he is going in, of course, he grabbed the door to go in, was wearing gloves so he knew there would be no prints,” Detective T.F. Spangenberg described surveillance video from outside the store.

The gloves hid his fingerprints, the hoodie and mask hid his face.

“Under the hood, he has a mask, and it looks like a ‘Jason’ mask or a mask from ‘Scary Movie,’” said Spangenberg.

This was no movie character, it was an armed robber who jumped through a security entrance window and immediately demanded the owner take him to the safe.

“She says, ‘no, take this cash,’ he goes ‘no, take me to the safe in the back’ and she struggles with him,” said Detective Spangenberg.

The detective said the owner, a petite woman, about five-feet-four-inches tall handed the gunman about $60 and then broke away.

She then ran around the jewelry counter as he gave chase.

Detective Spangenberg told FOX 5 News the man grabbed jewelry from the counter when it broke under his weight. He said the woman then went into a battle stance, determined to fight off the masked man.

“Then the owner of the store who was struggling with him, throws a jigsaw at him and then he leaves the store,” said Detective Spangenberg.

Surveillance video shows the masked villain leave with a little cash and some jewels. He hopped into a red mustang with a big white stripe waiting around the corner of the store. It was earlier recorded dropping off the culprit before he went into Kwik Kash Pawn.

Detective Spangenberg said the woman had a few scratches from the dangerous encounter which could have ended much worse.

“She didn’t show him she was scared she struggled with him. I don’t suggest people do that because it could have been a pretty bad outcome. but she was fortunate,” said Detective Spangenberg.

He said the crook was in and out of the store in under a minute and a half.

The red Mustang he said have a white-colored Georgia license plate with a partial number of 005.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the McDonough Police Department.