Watch: Employees wrestle with armed suspect during attempted robbery at Arlington cell phone store

Two employees of a cell phone store in Arlington wrestled with an armed suspect during an attempted robbery last month.

The police department released surveillance footage of the encounter Tuesday in hopes of identifying the two suspects involved.

The incident occurred about 4:30 p.m. July 18 at Z Comm in the 3400 block of South Cooper Street, near West Mayfield Road, Arlington police spokesman Steven Bartolotta said.

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Two suspects entered the store and walked to the back counter. One of them asked about buying a phone, but suddenly the situation changed, store manager Khurrum Monga told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 

"When he pulled out the gun, I thought he was playing a game or it was joke," Monga said. "He jumped over the counter and that's when we started pushing and grabbing him."

Monga and another employee struggled with the suspect behind a counter that runs along the length of the store, as the second suspect pulled out a handgun. In one moment he pointed it directly at an employee, who swiped at it.

That suspect then bolted.

The other suspect tried to get the staff members off of him as he inched towards the doorway and eventually broke free, leaving his torn shirt behind.

"It was all so sudden," Monga told The Star-Telegram. "I hope it doesn't happen again."

Neither suspect got away with anything from the store.

Officers recovered one of the handguns that'd been dropped.

Bartolotta said he can't speak to how unusual it is for people to wrestle away and fight with potential suspects.

"But I can say this was a very brave act by the employees, but certainly not something that we would recommend," he said.