A robber tells his intended victims, “Just call me when you’re ready for me.”
Ah, but what a piece of work is man…
You know that old saying, ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you.’
Most of the time that’s the politer way of saying, ‘Don’t let the door hit your arse on your way out.’
Sometimes though, this promise is kept – with quite hilarious results:
Robbers don’t usually leave phone numbers behind, but on Monday, at a Northwest Side muffler shop, a man asked employees to give him a call when their boss came back to open a safe, an employee said Tuesday.
When the 18-year-old returned a few hours later, plainclothes Chicago police officers shot and wounded him in the leg, police said. Ruben Zarate of the 5100 of West Schubert Avenue was charged Tuesday with attempted armed robbery and aggravated assault of a police officer, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said.
The incident started about 8 a.m., when the masked man, armed with a revolver, came in to Velasquez Mufflers For Less at 2600 N. Laramie Ave. and began demanding money, said Jose Sida, 37, a mechanic. Employees told him they had little money and couldn’t open the safe, so the man left two phone numbers for them to call when the owner returned with the combination, Sida said.
“He said, ‘You guys better call me because otherwise I’m going to come back to shoot you,’” Sida said.
Instead, an employee called Chicago police. Officers dressed in plainclothes came to the shop and told employees to call the man, Sida said. The man returned about noon, wearing the same mask and black clothing and officers told the employees to get to the back of the shop, Sida said. A police source said the teen pulled a gun from his hooded sweat shirt and at least one officer opened fire. Zarate’s injury was not thought to be life-threatening, the source said.
Of course, getting your legs shot from under you is slightly worse than a door hitting your arse on your way out but at least the robber can take some comfort from the fact that the guys who’d promised to call him back didn’t pull his leg.
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