Off-duty cop couple takes down robber: ‘We fell on training’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
A married couple of police officers in Kentucky described "Fox & Friends" how they interrupted their date night to thwart an armed robbery at a Lexington fried-chicken restaurant, drawing their guns and chasing the suspect out of the building.
“We just went there to enjoy a relaxing meal and it went another way,” Detective Chase McKeown told “Fox & Friends" on Thursday.
Chase and his wife, Officer Nicole McKeown, both of the Elizabethtown Police Department, have been married for six months and were out for date at a branch of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers on Saturday night, Louisville's WDRB reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
“I initially just saw his face and saw the mask, but it’s a surgical mask, it’s flu season — so I didn’t think a whole lot of it at the time. It was the cashier’s behavior that stood out, especially when I saw her hands go up,” Nicole said. “I looked at him and said, 'Is he doing what I think he’s doing?' … He had a better view than I did and saw that he had a gun in his hand and that there was a robbery taking place so at that point we just kind of fell on training and we had to do something,” she explained.
The suspect, 30-year-old Justin Carter, was flashing a gun at an employee as he demanded money from the register.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
“Training took over. We both drew our firearms and approached him,” Chase said.
Security cameras captured the moment both off-duty officers got up from their table in a back booth, drew their guns and ran to the front of the restaurant. The couple can be seen chasing a man wearing a mask and a black hoodie out of the building.
Carter dropped his weapon and fled on foot, according to a police report. The McKeowns ran after him and held him at gunpoint a few blocks away. Lexington Police Department officers responded to the scene and placed Carter under arrest.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
He has been charged with first-degree robbery, receiving a stolen firearm and possessing a handgun as a convicted felon. Authorities determined the gun Carter had was stolen from Jeffersontown police, according to the police report. Carter appeared in court Monday and was represented by a public defender. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.