Owner gets would-be robber by the shirt

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- He's been robbed many times before but this time a New Haven business owner fought back, and his struggle was caught on the store's surveillance cameras.

Police say 33-year-old David Nielsen walked into a New Haven gas station Monday afternoon. He looks like any other customer, but when he walked up to the counter, instead of paying for his Orange Fanta, he pulled out a knife and held it to the clerk's throat. But that clerk fought back. The two struggled, and the clerk called out to store owner Gerry Katz, who was in the back.

"And by the time I got out, he started running outside and just instinct, I just ran after him and grabbed him right by the door," Katz said.

They struggled by the door, but the robber got outside. Gerry followed him and keeps grabbing at him, trying to keep him from getting away. The only reason he escapes Gerry's grasp is that his shirt tears right off his body, showing his easily identifiable tattoos. Gerry grabs at the guy's pants, but they rip, too.

So Nielsen ran down the street, but because Gerry and his employee had held him so long at the gas station the police were here in just a couple minutes. The shirtless, tattooed, knife-wielding man was easy to spot. Although when he was arrested, police say Nielsen did try to counter-complain that Gerry tore his shirt.

Katz tells his employees not to fight back when a robber has a weapon, but he says he didn't know the guy had a knife until he saw the surveillance video. He is glad he got Nielsen off the streets. For one thing in 34 years and countless robberies at his Shell station, Gerry says this is the first time anyone has ever been caught.

"You know, we've missed some of the robberies by 20 seconds when the police would just come by, when the police were running after the suspect," he said.

Police say Nielsen also robbed Jay-Nez Groceries on Ferry Street in New Haven the same day, and he's a suspect in two other robberies in Milford.