Story Archive

Just a Regular Day

Phillip Brooks, 70, went into his regular Fayetteville, N.C., Waffle House, and went to his regular seat. Then a man rushed in behind him. “He ran up to the cash register, started demanding the money — ‘Give me all the money in the drawer. Open the drawer’,” Brooks recalled. And he noticed something unusual about the AK-47 the robber was brandishing. “I did two tours in Vietnam, so I got to see a lot of AK-47s.” That experience helped him identify the gun as a fake. “This thing was wood almost all the way up to the end of the barrel. No trigger guard, no trigger,” he said. “So I just told the girls, ‘Don’t give him anything. That’s a fake gun.’” The robber said, “Well, I’m for real” and pointed the gun at Brooks. “I showed him how real I was,” Brooks said. “I hit him in the nose with my cane.” The two men fought with the fake gun and the cane, until other customers joined in and chased the robber out of the restaurant. Police are still looking for the man. (MS/WRAL Raleigh) ...If the guy was able to walk, maybe Brooks wasn’t quite “real” enough.