'It's not real': Armed robber scared away after store owner pulls gun

GRANITE FALLS, N.C. — An armed robbery at a jewelry store in Caldwell County was foiled by the owner of a business.

Surveillance cameras captured the moment the robber ran from the store after that owner pulled out a gun.

The bold robbery happened in downtown Granite Falls at a business just feet away from the police department.

The owner said he knew something was up when he spotted the robber outside pulling a mask down.

Surveillance video inside Sherrills Jewelry store shows the robbery. The masked man orders customers at gunpoint to turn away from him, not realizing the owner already had his gun out.

(Click play to watch surveillance video of the encounter)

"For some reason he seemed obsessed with the two customers over the side and trying to get them to look away,” said owner Steve Sherrill. “He didn't even see me. (He) even turned his back on me at one time after I'd already drawn down on him."

Sherrill said the robber immediately told him his gun wasn't real and started to head for the door.

"When he saw me and started backing up he kind of lifted up and said, 'It's not real. It's not real,'” Sherrill said.

Next door, eyewitness Jaycee Price could see a customer chasing after the robber before he got into a burgundy Ford Fusion.

"I'm proud of him responding so quickly and having the nerve to handle that the way he did,” Price said.

Police said several different surveillance cameras in the downtown area captured the car as it sped off with a getaway driver and the robber inside.

Sherrill is glad he had the gun and that no one got hurt.

"You don't want to be powerless. Who knows what he would have done, but I wasn't going to wait around and find out,” Sherrill said.

Police support what Sherrill did but add the best advice is to cooperate with a robber so someone innocent doesn't get hurt.

Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com:

• Troopers say impaired driver slammed into fire engine on I-85 in Concord
• Crews reel in massive 3,000-pound great white off SC coast
• Innocent couple shot in Plaza Midwood robbery making progress
• Panthers turn back clock in 26-15 rout of Redskins
• North Carolina's 'bathroom bill' set on fast path to repeal

Cox Media Group