Johnny Nguyen Las Vegas vape store owner stabs robber multiple times fearing for his life in failed robbery attempt at Smokestrom Smoke Shop. Incident caught on video.
‘I remember him saying, ‘Please don’t let me die.”
A Las Vegas vape store owner fearing for his life repeatedly stabbed a robber upon the man jumping over his counter during a failed robbery attempt, surveillance footage showed.
Video showed the brazen broad-daylight heist on Wednesday, in which Johnny Nguyen, owner of Smokestrom Smoke Shop, stabbed the unidentified assailant at least seven times before the robber yelled, ‘I’m dead’ and fell to the ground.
The robber would later be described as a 17 year old teen. It remained unclear the extent of his injuries.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to the venue Wednesday afternoon following a report of robbery incident at the vape business but would not release further details.
‘I asked them first nicely to leave but the guy took my tip jar, which was fine,’
‘I was scared for my life,’ Nguyen told the nypost. ‘When they came in, one of them had a bag in front of him like he had a firearm or something. I didn’t have much time to think. I grabbed my knife right next to the register.’
Nguyen, 22, said it was around 3:25 p.m. when two men wearing black ski masks entered his shop while another stood by the door. Video footage showed Nguyen asking the two suspects why they were wearing the ski masks.
When Nguyen asked them to leave, one of the suspects grabbed the tip jar.
‘I asked them first nicely to leave but the guy took my tip jar, which was fine,’ Nguyen said according to the nypost. ‘When they came back and tried to take some more, that’s when it escalated.’
Surveillance footage showed one of the suspects jump over the counter and try to grab some products off the shelf. Fearing for his life, Nguyen said he grabbed his knife with a three-inch blade and stabbed the assailant seven times.
‘Stop, please! I’m dead! I’m dead,’ the would-be robber said as he collapsed to the ground.
‘I remember him saying, ‘Please don’t let me die,” Nguyen said. ‘He said he was sorry. By that point, he took off his mask himself. I was trying to get on the phone with the police when he was trying to talk to me. I just ran and wanted to make sure the police and ambulance would get here on time.’
A rifle-toting robber is no match for a shotgun-wielding #Norco liquor store owner. Eyewitness News with the bungling getaway, and an update on the liquor store owner who suffered a heart attack after the attempted heist. Tonight at 11 from ABC7. https://t.co/bwrPzH6BHE pic.twitter.com/3j14lfGTcb
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) August 2, 2022
Store owners fending off violent crime
The brazen attempted robbery at Nguyen’s Las Vegas store came just one day after another business owner in California shot a robber who entered his liquor store armed with an AR-15 style rifle.
Video footage showed 80 year old man, Craig Cope, owner of the Norco Market & Liquor in Norco, Calif., firing at the armed robber, who ran out of the store screaming, ‘my arm has been blown off,’ and escaping in a vehicle with other suspects, before being detained soon after.
Nguyen, who turns 23 on Saturday, said he is thankful that he survived the ordeal. He said the incident left him ‘shook’ and he plans to look into arming himself with other weapons for protection.
‘Small business owners like us, this is our livelihood,’ Nguyen told the nypost. ‘Not only are they threatening our lives, but our livelihood, so we have to stay vigilant.’
Not immediately clear is what led to the 17 year old would be robber resorting to crime.
