Call me!
A
young robber leaves his business card
At just after eight in the
morning a young man walks into car repair shop in
Chicago.
18-year old Ruben Carate is wearing a mask. He is carrying
a gun. He looks very scary.
He waves his gun at the employees behind the counter.
‘Open up the safe,’ he orders. ‘And give
me all the money.’
The employees look nervously at each
other. ‘We can’t do that,’ they tell
the robber. ‘Only our boss has the
combination to the safe. And he’s
not here yet.’
Carate now looks confused. This is a problem he isn’t
expecting. ‘When is he coming in?’ he asks.
‘We’re not sure,’ says a worker called
Tony Diaz. ‘Some time before lunch.’
‘But I can’t wait here all morning!’
complains the robber. ‘I’ve got things to
do.’
Here's my
number
‘We could call you when
our boss gets in,’ says Mr Diaz bravely.
There is a moment of tense silence. Mr Diaz looks at
the gun. He is regretting his joke. He expects to be
screamed at or worse.
But to everyone’s amazement Carate nods his masked
head. He carefully writes down his mobile number.
‘Call me on this number as soon as he gets in,’
he says.
‘Okay,’ says Mr Diaz.
Happy with this arrangement, Mr Carate backs out of the
shop. He is still waving his gun at the employees. 'You
guys must call me!’ he warns them. ‘Otherwise
I'm going to come back to shoot you.'
Later that morning they do call Carate back. They also
phone the Chicago police.
'I'm
back!'
Just before midday Carate
returns. Plain-clothes Chicago police officers are
waiting for him. ‘Stay at the back of the
shop,’ they tell the employees.
Carate walks in. He’s wearing the same clothes and
the same mask. ‘I’m back,’ he shouts.
‘And I want the money now.’
But the man now standing behind the counter is a police
officer. ‘Put your hands in the air!’ he tells
Carate.
The look of amazement on Carate’s face
quickly turns to fury. He does not put his hands up.
Instead he tries to attack the police officer.
The police officer shoots. He wounds Carate in the leg.
‘It's pretty funny now, but it wasn't at the
time,’ Diaz says.
‘No one could make this up," adds a police spokesman.
Carate is treated in hospital for a gunshot wound. He is
then charged with attempted armed robbery and
assaulting a police officer.
