One Tennessee couple who tried to barricade thieves inside a store spoke out about the incident, what motivated them to take action and how crime overall in and around Nashville has impacted the local community.
Cody and Angela Campbell were shopping at Tanger Outlets in Nashville’s Antioch neighborhood over the weekend when four alleged burglars wearing hoodies and medical masks began robbing a Perfumania store.
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Angela told Carley Shimkus on Thursday that her son was in the store shopping and had left, along with an employee, when the robbers arrived.
“Another employee went out the back and locked the door, and they kind of just ran out and were like, we’re being robbed. We’re being robbed,” she recounted.
She said the couple was next door at a different store when their son alerted them to what was happening.
“So I just instantly was like, ‘Okay, I got to record this.’ I don’t know what I just did. And yes, and we were just holding them in, waiting on the cops to come.”
That’s when Cody sprang into action to help his son and other shoppers trying to trap the thieves before they escaped.
“Something kicked in, and I walked down there and started helping him hold the door,” Cody said. “I think anybody would do it if they had somebody yelling for help.”
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Video shows the alleged burglars trying to smash the back door open with a stepladder in a bid to escape. When they were unable to break down the door, they began to break open the wall next to the backdoor with the stepladder.
The perpetrators escaped before police arrived. The group of bystanders told WSMV-TV that they held the front door shut for 30 minutes until officers arrived. The thieves are reportedly still being sought.
The alleged burglars were seen using a stepladder to try to smash open the back door of the store to escape. (Angie Campbell / @ptodropout via Storyful)
“There were probably three different people that called the cops, and we kept waiting and waiting,” Angela said.
“It took 30 minutes, and by that time, the shoplifters were able to break through the sheetrock out the back, and they escaped.”
Cody said such crimes will “deter” shopping in the area, and he will choose to shop elsewhere if crime continues to be an issue.
“This is a really pretty place. It’s got a lot to do, but I don’t want to go back there if that’s what’s going to happen.”
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
