CLEVELAND, OHIO — In an unusual set of circumstances, that being multiple armed employees, a total of three Taco Bell employees opened fire on two armed robbers.
The incident has a few details which are a little foggy, but here’s how the story goes so far;
The employees — two 19-year-old men and a 23-year-old man — shot one of the armed robbers six times about 2:45 p.m. inside the Taco Bell on West 117th Street in the city’s Edgewater neighborhood.
Police have not yet identified the employees who fired the shots, or the robber who was killed. There were no customers inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting, police said.
No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed in the case.
The two armed robbers wore bandanas on their faces when they walked into the restaurant. They ordered three employees– ages 19, 24 and 44– to the ground at gunpoint, according to police reports.
Those employees complied and the robbers walked up to the cash registers, according to police reports.
The three other employees then fired several shots at the robbers. One robber fell to the floor while the second robber ran from the restaurant.
The first robber was found alive by police, but had a very faint pulse. He was taken to the hospital where he later died. The other robber took off running, and police are still searching for him.
After the incident, the employees ran out of the store and called police. The story gets a little strange with the following:
Investigators searched the parking lot and found a loaded gun tucked in the backseat of one of the employees’ cars, according to police reports. Police have not said who that gun belongs to or if it was used in the shooting.
This could be a very innocent move, but it creates speculation and a few questions. Was the employee(s) legally able to carry and/or possess firearms? Were they afraid of being prosecuted for their actions? It’s all unknown currently, but police say that no charges have been filed so far.
In Ohio, a person needs to be 21 years of age or older to apply for a concealed carry permit. The types of firearms used by the employees was not released, but this could be a case of ‘I wasn’t supposed to have that’.
There could have also been rear of losing their jobs for being armed while at work. Again, speculation, but we do have a few unanswered questions.
According to fox8.com, Taco Bell allows franchise locations discretion in regards to firearm policies.
Regardless, we’re looking at this as a self-defense incident in which no employees were harmed during this attempted armed robbery.
There were no customers in the store at the time of the incident.
When details arise, we’ll update this space appropriately.
