Attempted petty crook Shawn Frazier recently received a rude awakening after attempting to steal from Tom’s Music Trade, an independent record store located in Red Lion, Pennsylvania in the US, whose owner is one Tom “Mate” Anderton, a former mixed martial arts fighter and boxer.
As Fox 43 reports, the British-born proprietor of Tom’s Music Trade spent years as an amateur cage fighter, after a three-year stint as a boxer––some choice biographical details that could’ve aided Mr Frazier, when he unfortunately decided to enter Mr Anderton’s store on 7th December.
Frazier had been loitering in Mr Anderton’s store for a number of hours before approaching the counter to purchase a CD, when the store owner felt the suspicious-looking patron had more items stashed in his pocket and attempted to reclaim them from Mr Frazier.
“I went to get the rest of the stuff in his pocket and when I did that, that’s when he pulled the knife out,” Anderton told Fox 43.“And it was a big knife and that’s when it was on right there.” Anderton landed a quick jab to Frazier’s face before making an attempt to restrain him in a headlock.
Anderton tried to disarm Frazier, while a number of customers came to his aide. “I grabbed his arm, started shouting ‘Drop the knife!’,” Anderton explained over video surveillance of the incident. “I’m not actually trying to choke him out,” he continues, “but he’s still struggling.”
Anderton then manoeuvred Frazier into a more docile state. “He just went out for a couple of seconds, went unconscious for a couple of seconds and then after that he was pretty relaxed,” he explained. Police arrived shortly after and charged Frazier with felony robbery.
Anderton’s 12-year-old daughter was present in the store and witnessed the altercation. “I think that’s the worst part about it thinking about what could have happened,” he says. “In eight years I haven’t had anything close to that, I’m just glad no one got hurt and it worked out the way it did.”
Watch: Former MMA Fighter/Record Store Owner Chokes Out Alleged Thief
