Exclusive: Brooklyn convenience store employee recounts how he helped subdue man who threatened staff with rifle
NEW YORK -- An employee at a Flatbush convenience store told CBS2 the terrifying story of how a man barged in and pointed a rifle at him before the employee helped subdue the man until police arrived.
Security video shows a man walk through Newkirk Plaza on Tuesday afternoon with a rifle on his shoulder. He steps into Newkirk Grocery, paces back and forth and points the rifle at employees.
Zaid Hussain can be seen ducking behind the counter.
"Pointing it and saying he's not playing around," Hussain told CBS2's Tim McNicholas. "First, I thought it was a joke, when he was pointing it and everything, and then when he started coming around. I'm like, yeah, this guy's, he's buggin' out."
You can see Hussain and his coworker trying to get away as the man walks behind the counter and points the rifle again.
Then, Hussain says his uncle jumped in and wrestled the gun away. That's when Hussain hurries back and helps his uncle restrain the man for about five minutes until the police arrive.
"We restrain him. He was like, 'It's a joke. It's a joke. You think I'm playin'? It was just a joke, you know, let me go.'"
But to Hussain it's no joke. He says he's seen the man around, but he doesn't know him and has no idea why he did this.
The NYPD says the suspect is a 68-year-old named Michael Stevens and he "threatened to kill everyone while pointing an assault rifle at a store employee."
Police sources say the rifle was not loaded.
"I didn't know that there wasn't no magazine 'cause you don't just focus on if there's a magazine," Hussain said.
NYPD sources also say Stevens "appeared emotionally disturbed" to the officers on scene.
Detectives are now trying to trace the history of the weapon to see how Stevens got it.
"I'm very concerned, but you know, it's the world we live in now," Hussain said.
Police sources say before he entered the store, Stevens was waving the rifle out on the plaza, right next to a busy train station.
The NYPD says Stevens now faces a charge of menacing and three gun-related charges, including criminal possession of a machine gun.
