Iraq Veteran Wrestles Shotgun from Robber

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 40-year-old robbery suspect apparently got more than he bargained for when police say he tried to mug 24-year-old Aaron Martin. Martin was walking home near the Country Club Plaza around 3:20 Sunday morning when he says a car stopped at the corner of Main St. and Ward Parkway.

Martin says a man with a shotgun jumped out of a Black Crown Victoria and demanded Martin’s wallet.

” I dropped my wallet down in front of me and as he bent down to pick it up, as he was coming back up I noticed the shotgun was pointed up over the top of my shoulder so I shoved it up over his face and wrestled him down to the ground and eventually got the gun away from him,” Martin said.

At one point the robber’s get-away driver jumped out of the car and yelled at Martin to let the suspect go.  Instead Martin hung on and says the would-be accomplice jumped back in his car and drove away.  Two witnesses helped grab the shotgun and called police.  The shotgun turned out not to be loaded but Martin tells Fox 4 his only thought at the time was not to be a victim.

“I mean I’ve had friends that have been held up before and I just wasn’t going to let it happen to me,” he said.

Police arrested 40-year old Robert Mays and booked him with first degree robbery.  Mays refused to share his name with police, so officers say they had to identify him through fingerprints. Martin served two tours in Iraq but says he never saw hand to hand combat.  He admits he only had $3 in his wallet and is still catching grieve from his mom for tackling a man with a shotgun.

“My mom was not happy at all.  She’s like go ahead and give it to him, don’t take a chance on fighting him,” he said. “My Dad was like, oh you know glad you did it, it was kind of a gutsy move but everything turned out okay.”