Newshub has obtained exclusive footage of the dramatic moment members of the public locked a suspect inside the very Auckland liquor store he was trying to rob.
The incident unfolded at Melrose Liquor in Mt Roskill where members of the community say fed-up store owners are now more likely to take matters into their own hands.
This is what desperation looks like. Business owners and communities sick of being targeted, taking matters into their own hands and locking a would-be robber inside the scene of the crime.
"We were scared. When something like this happens, you basically go blank but whatever comes in your head you just do it," said Melrose Liquor manager Josh Kanakia.
The commotion kicked off just before 5:30pm on Sunday when the suspect strolled in with a screwdriver and demanded cash.
But the tables were turned when he was locked inside. An exit plan was quickly curtailed when the caged door came down as he tried to crawl underneath.
He then tried to smash his way out with a fire extinguisher and later kicked a hole in the front window only to be barricaded in by a wooden pallet. Eventually down came the roller door.
Realising he was trapped, the suspect came to the liquor store's warehouse. He couldn't get through the back door, so came through a side door and smashed his way through the roof.
"We actually ran out to save our lives, rather than with the intention of locking him in. But he was more interested in getting the till out, so we could lock him in," said Kanakia.
In the end, he escaped with nothing, the till still inside. Police caught the wannabe robber, while staff were left to clean up yet again.
"They just keep coming back until the time, I think, until the time someone does get hurt real bad. It'll just go on," Kanakia warned.
This afternoon Newshub caught up with the man who captured it all on film. Robbery eyewitness Pratik didn't want to be fully identified but said businesses around here are sick of being targeted.
"Before, you used to see them run out of the shop and let them do whatever they want. But now people are stepping into it and probably taking matters into their hands."
In Auckland City there were 156 proceedings for robbery for the year to March 2022. The year just gone it jumped to 207 - up 32 percent.
That's largely driven by a 101 percent increase in the number of 10-17-year-olds caught.
"It's like a regular affair. It's nothing new, I think people should know," Kanakia said.
The only monument to this doomed mission is a plateless, stripped-out getaway car that didn't go anywhere.
