TERRELL, Texas — A man who attempted to rob a gas station on South Virginia Street in Terrell on Tuesday morning was met with a gun from the 75-year-old store owner.
TERRELL, Texas — A man who attempted to rob a gas station on South Virginia Street in Terrell on Tuesday morning was met with a gun from the 75-year-old store owner.
Jeremiah Redfearn, an employee of the “GAS” gas station and convenience store at 402 South Virginia Street, said a man, in his early 20s, entered the store, looked around, and left — returning a short time later with a bandanna covering his face, a gun in hand, and demanding cash.
That’s when the store owner, 75-year-old Fahed “Papa” Fatayri, pulled a .38 pistol and fired a single shot at the attempted robbery suspect, striking him once in the buttocks.
The suspect fled on foot, ditched his gun a short distance from the store, and then fled in a red sedan.
Terrell Police Department Captain A.D. Sansom said the department's officers responded very quickly to the robbery report and observed the suspect enter his vehicle before leading police on a high-speed pursuit onto eastbound U.S. Highway 80.
The suspect, identified by police as a 22-year-old Mathew Colby Johnson of Mineloa, Texas, continued fleeing eastbound on U.S. Highway 80 at speeds topping 120 miles per hour and occasionally switching into the westbound lanes into oncoming traffic.
The Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and several agencies out of Van Zandt County assisted in the pursuit that came to a violent end on U.S. Highway 80 in between Wills Point and Edgewood with a rollover crash which resulted in the suspect being ejected from the vehicle and airlifted to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. His current condition is unknown.
Itadel “Mama” Fatayri, said she first noticed the suspect had a gun when he went behind the counter and demanded money from her, possibly unaware of Fahed’s presence. “I was scared,” she said.
Fahed Fatayri, who was quick to point out he has only been 75 for 13 days, said this isn’t the first time he has had to use a gun to fend off an attempted robbery at his store since he and his wife have owned it since 1997. In the previous attempted robbery, Fatayri recalls firing several gunshots at the would-be robber.
Redfearn says the suspect did not get away with anything and is glad the Fatayris were uninjured. “They are my family.”
An original report stated the man was flown to Parkland Memorial Hospital based on information provided by police at the scene of the crash. Police are now saying he was taken to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. The article has been updated with the correct information.
