Fencing coach stops robbery in shopping center

Franco Scaramuzza pulled into a Bellevue shopping center in Nashville, Tennessee recently and witnessed a crime in the act. As reported by WSMV Chanel 4 News, he saw two male suspects in the parking lot pepper spraying a couple and stealing a purse. Franco said, "The first thing that went through my head is somebody should do something, and that's when I got really upset and disappointed with myself, because I realized I had the opportunity to do something. And I didn't want to be a hypocrite who just tweeted about it."
As fate would have it, Franco had just come from fencing practice, was wearing breeches and was equipped with his fencing sword, or épée. Using the skills he acquired from years of fencing, he leapt out of his car and, "I charged towards them, you know holding my épée up high, you know, yelling at them…I kept yelling throughout the entire thing. They completely panicked, dropped everything they stole and really took off," Franco said. In minutes, the police arrived. They caught the suspects, Michael Butt and Zachary Johnson, and charged the duo with robbery. The hero told WSMV, “Fencing, you can do it without the weapon. It happens in your mind, and that's how you try to make the right choices…You have to make decisions in a very quick amount of time."
The suspects are in jail on $50,000 bond each. Zachary Johnson’s girlfriend told WSMV that her boyfriend was in the wrong place at the wrong time and is innocent of the crime. VIDEO