By JONATHAN BAGLEY
An employee at the Subway Sandwiches shop at 1400 N. Freedom Blvd. thwarted an attempted armed robbery at 11 p.m. Tuesday.
“The victim did an excellent job. He was alert. He didn’t try to confront the person. He did exactly what we would expect off-duty police officers to do,” said Detective Bud Walker of the Provo Police Department.
The robber walked into the restaurant wearing a baseball cap, glasses and a mask. He pointed a gun at the victim, but the victim slipped out the back of the Subway before the robber could make any demands, Walker said. Once out of the store, the victim dialed 911. The victim described the robber’s weapon as an Uzi sub-machine gun, he said.
Walker said the robber did not escape with any money.
“The only one that lost out was the bandit,” Walker said.
The Subway Sandwich shops established in Utah have been robbed several times, Walker said. The Subway at 1400 N. Freedom has been robbed twice within the last year. It has not been determined if there is a connection between the robberies. He said police are examining leads to see if they are similar.
Provo has a violent crime rate comparable to other cites, Walker said. He said Provo’s population curbs the number of crimes, but they are proportionately the same.
“They usually pick this time of year. They usually come out of the cold weather and are out later at night,” Walker said. “We have our share of robberies and homicides.”
He said crime increases as daylight-saving time starts.
