Two Starbucks employees fought off a pair of armed robbers in a “life or death situation” at their crime-plagued store before they were fired, newly released video captured.
The chaotic moment broke out when two hooded men entered the Starbucks location near the campus of St. Louis University in Midtown in December 2023, according to video obtained by Fox 2 News on Thursday.
One of the would-be robbers aimed a gun at the employees behind the counter, as the 10 workers and one customer inside hit the ground, complying with the orders of the armed men.
One of the robbers rushed the cash register, shoving a female worker out of the way.
Employee Michael Harris, who was manning the drive-thru, approached the register and began touching the screen as a menacing robber stood next to him.
“I was scared but also calm at the moment because I was just like whatever we could do to just get them out of here would be perfect,” Harris told the outlet.
Harris was trying to open the register, but didn’t have managerial access to the cash, when one of the robbers pistol-whipped him in the back of the head.
“After that point, like when my vision went black, I was like ‘I’m about to get shot.’” Harris said. “It was definitely a life or death situation in my eyes,” Harris said.
A second male employee, Devin Jones-Ransom, saw the robber lower his gun and jumped at the armed trespasser, running him into the window of the drive-thru.
The gun broke on impact as Jones-Ransom realized the weapon was fake. Harris then launched his own counter-attack against the robbers.
“The trigger broke off when they hit him with it,” Harris said. “My coworker announced that it was a fake gun like right as he got it off of him and thats when we jumped and started to fight them a little more.”
Overhead security cameras captured the two employees pummeling the robbers in the dining area of the shop.
The two robbers, later identified as Joshua Noe and Marquis Porter-Doyle, were overpowered by Harris and Jones-Ransom.
When the fracas ended, Noe was immobilized on the ground while accomplice Marquise Porter-Doyle fled the scene.
In a grueling mugshot after his arrest, Noe’s face was covered in blood with multiple cuts and scrapes on his face and scalp.
Both Noe and Porter-Doyle have since been convicted of robbery and sentenced to prison.
After the brawl, Harris and his coworker were fired from the store weeks after they stopped the robbery.
“I got a call a few weeks later,” Harris previously told The Post. “Once the media died down. They told me they were terminating me. I was surprised. I was distraught. I was confused.”
Harris said the store coffee chain’s location had been plagued by unruly and aggressive customers for months leading up to the violent attempted robbery.
“People are always yelling and screaming at us, threatening to assault us. Throwing things, trying to come up to us,” he said. “But nothing was ever done. People have left the job because of it.”
Starbucks said the two workers did not adhere to the company policy of “complying with demands and avoiding actions that could increase risk.”
“In high-stress situations like this, our priority is ensuring the safety of everyone in our stores. We were deeply disturbed by this frightening incident and are grateful that our partners and customers were not more seriously injured at the time,” the company told Fox 2.
“While we recognize how intense and unpredictable these moments can be, adherence to these protocols is essential to help protect both partners and customers,” the statement said.
Harris’ lawyer blasted the policy, claiming it could lead to further robbery attempts if workers don’t fight back.
“All it’s going to do is disuade people, potentially, from protecting their own lives when they may need it the most, and that is not the world we can live in,” attorney Ryan Krupp told the outlet.
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