'They were super brave.' Milwaukee restaurant employees band together to stop armed robber

Maddie Koss | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee Police Department responded to an armed robbery at the Omega Restaurant at S. 27th St. and W. Morgan Ave. to find the restaurant employees had already jumped the suspect.

Police said the suspect, a 39-year-old Milwaukee man, entered the restaurant just before 5 a.m. Tuesday, took out a knife and demanded money from the waitress at the register.

"The gentleman walked in and placed a to-go order," Angela Hernandez, Omega's manager, said. "He was pacing around and acting strange."

That's when he grabbed the waitress around the neck, holding a knife, before throwing her to the floor.

Hernandez said the suspect made another manager open the register after he "poked him in the stomach with the knife."

While that was happening, Hernandez said, the cooks in the back had a perfect view of what was going on.

After the suspect grabbed a handful of money, the "cooks came out from the back and jumped on him," Hernandez said.

The employees were able to hold down the suspect until police arrived.

Although Hernandez told her employees stopping the robber wasn't something to risk their lives over, she's proud of how concerned they were about each other.

"They all looked out for each other," Hernandez said. "They helped each other. It feels good to think how concerned they were for each other. They were super brave."

Hernandez said the waitress at the register was shaken up but uninjured except for a red mark on her neck.

Two other customers were in the restaurant at the time of the robbery, but no one else was injured.

Police will present this case to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.