Walgreens employees tackle and hold robbery suspect for Liberty police

Hours after Walgreens employees chased and tackled a man armed with a paintball gun, prosecutors accused a suspect of trying to steal painkillers from the store’s pharmacy.

Spencer P. Gunn, 28, of Cameron, faces a first-degree robbery charge in connection with the incident in the 1100 block of West Kansas Street in Liberty.

According to court records, the robber entered Walgreens about 6:45 a.m. Friday. He showed a paintball gun in his waistband, handed a yellow plastic bag to a pharmacist and demanded the pain medication.

At one point, he jumped over the pharmacy counter and screamed, “I’m not going to hurt you. Hurry up, you’re going too slow.”

He grabbed the plastic sack from the pharmacist, yelled, “That will be enough,” and jumped back over the counter. A male worker heard the commotion and ran to help. As the robber tried to flee, the worker chased him through the store down the center aisle.

As he ran, the robber shouted, “I’ll shoot you both.” The worker grabbed the robber and they fought near the front entrance. During the struggle, the worker pushed the robber’s hand with the gun above their heads, then shoved him to the floor with his hip.

Employees held him to the floor until police arrived, said Liberty Police Capt. Andy Hedrick.

“It was fight or flight, and they apparently chose fight,” Hedrick said. “It was a risk for them to do that, but it worked out and our officers were glad to make the arrest, and fortunately no one was hurt.”

Police recovered the drugs and paintball gun.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Walgreens employees tackle and hold robbery suspect for Liberty police."