ATASCOCITA, TX (CNN NEWSOURCE) – Four robbers were hoping to make bank when they broke into a Texas jewelry store.
Despite the damage, it was the store owner who got the last laugh.
The moment trouble arrived at the front door of Delton Hayes’ Jewelry, a man tried to open the door, he’s buzzed in, but something didn’t seem right.
“When he opened up the door all the way and then stuck his foot there and was on the phone, I knew at that point something was wrong and I was hollering at Delton,” Deana Henson said.
In his office, Delton Hayes was watching his alma mater beat Alabama, he heard the door, saw the guy keep the door open.
“They come running around the corner, three other guys did and came in and they came right in and started smashing cases in just a few seconds,” Delton Hayes said.
They were in the middle of smashing the glass when suddenly they starting running out.
That’s because Delton pulled out his equalizer and pulled the trigger, shooting through a one-way mirror.
“I stood up and, when the 3 came through the door and started busting the cases, started firing shots at ’em,” Hayes said.
It worked. Two of them were hit: one in the hand, the other…
“That’s what the police told me, yeah, that one of em got shot in the butt,” Hayes said.
Even better, they were all caught some miles away in Channelview.
The two wounded were taken to a hospital. The other two, in the back of a patrol car. The one item they took was a ring, which was recovered.
“They dropped it out in the parking lot running to the car,” Hayes said.
He was told other pieces of jewelry and drugs were recovered from their car.
Back at the store, boards replaced glass shattered by bullets, cleanup underway.
Should history repeat itself in another robbery attempt, it won’t be only Delton Hayes shooting.
“I’m taking my handgun class license and I will have a gun prepared,” Henson said.