Baskin Robbins worker fights robber with knife

Seattle Police are trying to identify a serial armed robber targeting fast food restaurants.

The most recent incident was at a Baskin Robbins.

What the crook didn’t count on was the ice cream worker fighting back.

“We watched it after and I was like, oh my gosh, you fought him!” Leslie, the Baskin Robbin’s worker who was behind the counter, said.

Leslie was in front cleaning the coolers when the suspect walked into her South Seattle Baskin Robbins store on Nov. 25.

“I’m like let me get behind the counter real quick so I can serve this customer and then as soon as I get to the counter, he grabs me by the apron and then holds his knife to my stomach and he says, open the register, give me all the money in it. And I looked down and I’m like whoa cause it’s just like a huge knife at my stomach and I’m just like oh my god, we’re being robbed,” Leslie said.

What the crook didn’t count on was her coworker who kept his cool telling the thief to calm down.

As soon as the co-worker opened the register, the thief dropped the knife and lunged for the money.

“And so my co-worker grabs his knife and kind of likes throws it at him, but then he turns around like he’s gonna leave but then he comes back and tries to jump over the counter,” Leslie said.

As she called 911, her coworker goes from ice cream slinger to dishing up 31 flavors of kung fu throwing punches and kicks all while holding the suspect’s knife.

“He’s very intent on getting that money. He doesn’t care if the clerk has the knife or not,” Detective Myrle Carner with Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound, said.

As the two continued to battle it out, the thief finally grabbed a grand total of $6 from the register before bolting out the door with the clerk hot on his heels.

“Not the brightest robbery guy but he is dangerous,” Detective Carner said.

Fortunately, neither employee was injured.

Police have the suspect’s huge knife in evidence and they never advise taking on a robbery suspect.

Leslie is grateful she wasn’t alone.

“That was amazing. His reaction was so quick,” Leslie said.

Detectives say this is just the latest in a series of robberies by this same suspect.

On Oct. 29, he was seen covering his face in a Baskin Robbins store on Elliott Avenue demanding money.

The victim said he showed her a gun stuck out of his pocket.

Two days earlier, police say the same suspect hit a Subway restaurant on 25th Avenue East.

This time using a brown scarf to cover the lower part of his face.

Both of those victims were left in tears believing his threats to kill.

“It was definitely scary. I was pretty shaken after,” Leslie said.