A grocery store butcher in New Mexico is being credited for stopping a man who was said to be armed with a knife.
Witness video captured the takedown inside a Santa Fe Food King early Tuesday afternoon, just before 1 p.m.
A witness tells KRQE that the store butcher pulled the suspect to the ground after the suspect had pulled a knife.
In the video, another witness can be heard yelling “Hey!” as the two men crash to the ground. A man can be heard uttering “Call the cops,” moments after the takedown.
“That’s called learning the hard way,” said Donny Robertson in reaction to watching the video Tuesday. Robertson owns a nearby driver training business.
Later in the recording, several grocery store employees can be seen gathering around the suspect and the butcher on the ground.
The suspect can be heard saying, “Please get off of me.”
The butcher responded, “No, I will not get off of you ************.”
A witness tells KRQE that the takedown happened moments after the suspect pulled a knife on a security guard. The witness said the suspect had thrown an item at the security guard as he was being followed on a suspicion of shoplifting.
“That guy got exactly what he deserved,” said Robertson. “(The butcher) possibly could have saved a life, because that guy could have been stabbed. The butcher put his life at risk.”
Another neighboring business owner, Chris Hill, called the video “astounding.”
While Hill says he wouldn’t have tackled the suspect himself, he says he appreciates the butcher’s work.
“That’s great for him,” said Hill. “He’s used to knives, so maybe he’s not too scared of knives.”
A witness said it did not appear that anyone was hurt and the suspect was eventually taken into custody.
It’s unclear if the suspect at the center of the takedown was charged with anything. Santa Fe Police didn’t respond Tuesday to KRQE’s questions about the incident.
