Commuters in Washington were recently interrupted from their normal evening commute when an armed man boarded a Metro bus to West Seattle and tried to rob passengers at gunpoint.
But it was what happened next that makes the situation all the more striking: Bus passengers fought back against the would-be robber.
Surveillance footage released by prosecutors Wednesday shows one commuter push the armed man away before several other passengers jump into the fray. Working together, the bus passengers wrestle the gun-wielding man to the floor.
Though the video cuts away, passengers managed to pin the man down until police could take him into custody.
The gunman in the surveillance footage has since been identified as 19-year-old Trevonnte Brown. The Seattle man was arrested after the incident on Nov. 25 and charged with two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of attempted first-degree robbery.
According to West Seattle Blog, a witness said one passenger confronted the armed man before anyone else.
"First thing he did was grab the arm holding the revolver and managed to get his finger in,” the unnamed witness told the blog, explaining that the passenger blocked the trigger from being pulled. After that, several other passengers helped subdue the gunman.
"Then me and a couple other guys all just kind of jumped at the same time to kind of tackle him," passenger Chris Briggs told KOMO News.
The gunman was reportedly targeting people for their cell phones -- a type of robbery Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson says has spiked recently.
"We don’t want to tell people not to use their phones, but just be aware of your surroundings, be smart," Jamieson advised, according to The Seattle Times. "Don’t be so engrossed you lose all perspective and you fail to notice what’s around you."
Brown pleaded not guilty to the charges and is currently being held on $350,000 bail.
Watch raw surveillance video of the Seattle Metro bus incident above.
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