(KS)Armed business owner thwarts attempted robbery

Steve Yager saw him approaching from two blocks away.

Even though it was awfully warm for the first morning of October, the pedestrian had his sweatshirt drawn up tight against him and the hood up over his head.

“Well, here comes trouble,” Yager thought.

Sure enough, the man came up to him and asked him for the time.

“There was a clock right there in the antique (store) window” right next to where he was parked in the 900 block of West Douglas on Monday morning, Yager said. “It was just a ploy.”

The man turned and walked to the front of the antique store, then returned to where Yager was waiting in his truck for an employee to arrive at about 10 a.m. so he could open the Club Billiards that he owns next door.

“Well, why don’t you just go ahead and give me your billfold and I won’t have to pull my gun?” Yager said the man told him.

“I said, ‘Really?’ ” Yager said. “I reached over like I was going to get my billfold and grabbed my gun and stuck it in his face and said, ‘You mean like this?’ ”

The would-be robber’s eyes grew wide and his demeanor suddenly shifted, Yager said.

“He says, ‘Oh, I was just kidding! I was just foolin’ with ya, ya know?’ ” Yager said the man replied.

“Man, you don’t need to do that,” Yager said he told the man. “You was lucky you didn’t get shot. What you need to do is get the hell out of here before you get hurt.”

The suspect removed his hands from his pockets and told Yager, “You have a nice day. I don’t really mean this. I’m just foolin’. I’m going to leave.”

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