Jimmy John’s Employee Remains Astonishingly Calm As Armed Robber Points Gun In His Face In Kansas City


A Jimmy John’s employee amazingly kept his cool when an armed robber pointed a gun in his face and demanded all the money in the cash register. Surveillance video footage from the Kansas City sandwich shop has now gone viral.

The Kansas City Jimmy John’s was robbed around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. At first, the man just ordered a sandwich like so many customer that day had done before him, but then the situation took a very dark turn. The robbery suspect appeared to become irritated by something a restaurant employee said and yanked a gun from inside his light blue sweatshirt.

Instead of reacting with understandable panic, the Jimmy John’s cashier simply took off his plastic gloves in a steady and calm manner and then slowly began stacking cash from the register to hand over to the armed robber.

At one point during the altercation, the barrel of the robber’s gun was mere inches from the face of the Jimmy John’s employee. When the gunman noticed a stray dollar bill still inside the cash register tray, he quickly reached over and grabbed it before fleeing the Kansas City restaurant, WIBW reports.

After studying the still photos from the surveillance camera footage, some online posters believe the Jimmy John’s clerk might have remained calm because the slide was extended on the handgun, rendering it inoperable. The photos do appear to show the slide is locked open as happens after the last round in a magazine has been fired.

Even if the slide on the gun was locked open that does not mean the robber couldn’t quickly adjust the handgun mechanism, put another magazine in, and then squeeze the trigger at point blank range.

Kansas City police officers have now arrested the Jimmy John’s armed robbery suspect. The Missouri law enforcement officers credited the public for helping them nab the unidentified man, Fox 4 KC reports.

The identity of the Jimmy John’s employee has also not yet been shared with the public. Eventually, the young man’s name will likely be revealed by either the restaurant or by social media sleuths.

Jimmy John’s was founded in 1983 by Jimmy John Liautaud. It is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. The restaurant has enjoyed substantial success over the past three decades. There are now 2,500 Jimmy John’s across 46 states.

“My real love was Chicago street food, specifically Chicago-style hot dogs, like Portillo’s serves. The summer that I graduated high school, I visited many hot dog stands in the Chicago suburbs and created a menu from my research as well as a list of the equipment I would need to open,” Jimmy John Liautaud states on the company website.

Liautaud toured the restaurant district along West Madison Street in Chicago looking for used equipment to open his business. After discovering everything he needed would cost him about $45,000, he changed his mind about opening a hot dog stand. His budget was only $25,000.

A trip to Bobby’s Sandwiches in nearby Carbonale was a life-changer for the Jimmy John’s founder. All he saw when he walked in was a meat slicer, a refrigerator, and a cash register. That very moment he decided to open up a sub shop instead of a hot dog stand and, “never looked back.”

The viral armed robbery footage was released just days before Jimmy John’s big customer appreciation celebration. On May 2 between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. it will be “Dollar Sub Day.” At participating franchise locations, customers can buy a sub for only $1 if they dine inside the store.

What do you think about the Jimmy John’s robbery and the calm reaction by the clerk who is now a viral internet sensation?

[Featured Image by Novikov Alex/Shutterstock]

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