A pastry shop employee in the Athens suburb of Nikaia fought back against a would-be robber during a late-night holdup after realizing the gun used to threaten her was not real, according to her account of the incident and security camera footage.
The attempted robbery unfolded at 10:42 p.m. Sunday, July 5, at a neighborhood pastry shop in Nikaia, a municipality in the greater Piraeus area of Athens.
Surveillance video recorded the confrontation, showing the suspect entering the store wearing a cap, a face covering and gloves while pointing what appeared to be a handgun at the employee as she was mopping the floor.
The man ordered her to open the cash register. Instead of panicking, the employee remained calm and waited for an opportunity to react.
Speaking to Greek television program Live News, she said she pressed the store’s panic button when the suspect briefly turned his attention toward the entrance, triggering the alarm before taking cover behind the pastry display.
According to her account, the suspect then pulled the trigger three times.
The sounds immediately raised her suspicions.
“The sound was just ‘pat, pat’ — like the toy cap guns you buy at village fairs,” she said. “That’s when I realized it wasn’t a real gun.”
Believing the weapon was fake, she emerged from behind the display cases and grabbed the mop she had left beside the register.
She then began striking the suspect with it in an attempt to force him out of the store.
“It was purely a reaction out of fear,” she said.
The security footage shows the suspect opening the cash register during the struggle and grabbing banknotes before fleeing. The employee continued trying to push him away with the mop as he escaped.
She said she would never have confronted him had she believed the gun was genuine.
“I would have stayed behind the display cases and let him do whatever he wanted so he would leave,” she said. “I only came out because I was convinced the gun was fake.”
Police officers who responded to the scene searched for shell casings after being told the suspect had fired three times but found none, reinforcing the conclusion that the weapon was not real, according to the employee.
The amount of cash taken has not yet been determined because employees do not count the register during their shifts, she said.
Pastry shop targeted repeatedly
The pastry shop’s owner said the business has been targeted by robbers 21 times in recent years despite investments in security systems.
The same employee, along with a colleague, was also present during another robbery on New Year’s Day, while the shop was robbed again this past March.
The owner said he does not believe the latest suspect is the same person involved in the earlier incident, describing the previous suspect as young and tall, while saying the latest man appeared to be much older based on his appearance and the way he walked.
Police are examining the route the suspect took after leaving the store and reviewing surveillance footage from nearby streets in Nikaia, while also seeking possible witness accounts as the investigation continues.
