Gas Station Workers Hinder Robbery

WIXOM, Mich. (myFOXDetroit.com) - It wasn't a clean getaway for the crook who robbed a gas station in Wixom. That's because employees inside fought back, calling the robbers' bluff and launching their own attack.

While he was behind the counter grabbing the cash, employees started grabbing anything they could off the shelves to throw at the robber, including a can of stewed tomatoes.

The surveillance video captures the masked man emptying the cash register, clearing it out after telling the three employees he had a gun and wasn't afraid to use it.

It happened at 6:50 Thursday morning at the Sunoco gas station on Wixom Road at I-96.

But it turns out the Sunoco workers weren't going to let this guy get away with it. Surveillance video shows them pelting him with cans, candy, coke -- whatever they could get their hands on.

The thief was so flustered that he hopped over the counter and took off, but it didn't end there.

"They believe that the best strategy is to try to fight back somehow. Not exactly what I would do if somebody was armed with a gun, but that's what they chose to do," said Wixom Public Safety Director Clarence Goodlein.

The employees took off after him, struggled, threw some punches and chased him down onto I-96, where the suspect ran out into traffic only to be caught by a flurry of cops on the freeway.

"I'm sure it was quite the show for the morning commute," Goodlein said.

Police never did find a gun. The suspect has prior convictions for robbery, drugs, weapons and property crimes.