Things Don't Go According to Plan for Would-Be Gas Station Robbers: 'I Knew I Could Take Care of That'

In small town South Dakota, people stick up for each other.

That's what two Minnesota teenagers discovered Sunday after they attempted to rob a gas station.

Around 2 p.m. Sunday just as residents of the small town of Alexandria, South Dakota, had left church and were grabbing a bite to eat at the adjoining restaurant next to the Westown Shell gas station, station clerk Diane Bryant saw her life flash before her eyes.

“Then she pointed the gun up to my head and said ‘give me all your money,” Bryant said.

That's when the Minnesota teenager carrying the gun got an unexpected South Dakota welcome.

"The gentleman that was at my side counter forced the gun up in the air and pushed her out the door. Then my husband and a couple other people took her to the ground and got the gun away," Bryant said.

John Henglefelt, an Alexandria resident and 20-year military veteran, was one of the customers who helped wrestle the woman to the ground. But Henglefelt said he wasn't intimidated.

"I knew with the gun she had, she wasn't going to do much," he said, Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported.

As the the gun was wrestled away from the teenager, others in the store called 911. The Hanson County Sheriff's Department later arrested the woman who held up the gas station and her accomplice who was waiting outside in a getaway car.

The two female suspects, ages 18 and 19, are charged with first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

As for the gun, Henglefelt was right. The teen really wasn't going to do much with it. The Sheriff's Department later said it was actually a BB gun.

And while Henglefelt is surely being hailed as one of the heroes, he isn't one to take credit.

"We all know each other. You just help your neighbors," he said.

Check out this video to hear Bryant describe her heart-stopping experience:

Authorities did not immediately release the names of either of the two suspects.

(H/T: KSFY-TV)

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