Former WWE wrestler Shad Gaspard, who was one-half of the tag team Cryme Tyme, took a bite out of crime over the weekend when he took down an armed robber at a convenience store in Florida. As the Coral Springs Police Department told TMZ, a suspect who was believed to be drunk walked up to Gaspard inside the gas station and told him, "Hey man, buy me a beer." Shad responded by saying, "There's a better way to ask than that," before the man whipped out what appeared to be a gun and pointed it at the 6-foot-7, 285-pound wrestler.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Gaspard's first thought after having a gun pointed at him was "Fuck this, I'm not dying in Florida," and he responded to the man's threat by using his massive size to intimidate him. It somehow worked, and the man told Gaspard to leave so that he could rob the store. But rather than run away, Gaspard grabbed the man, threw him up against a freezer door, and reached for his weapon, which fell to the ground. It was at that point that Gaspard realized the firearm had an air cannister and was only a BB gun.
Coincidentally, Gaspard's former Cryme Tyme tag team partner JTG was sitting outside in the car waiting for him to return as all of this was going on, and when he saw Gaspard emerge from the gas station with the suspect in a rear naked chokehold, he called the cops, who showed up on the scene and placed the man under arrest. "I thought it was a real gun the entire time and honestly, I just didn’t want anyone to get hurt," Gaspard said. "I just kept thinking about how I wanted to make sure I got home to my son."
The suspect was charged with robbery with a weapon. In Florida, that comes with a potential penalty of $15,000 in fines, life on probation, or even life in prison.
