wheelchair robbery gun feet
Courtesy Daily Mail

A 19-year-old man placed a note on the counter of a jewelry store in Canela, Brazil, then pulled a gun on the shopkeeper. That doesn’t sound like an atypical way to begin a holdup…except that the attempted robbery was carried out by a man in a wheelchair who doesn’t have the use of his hands.

The teen, who can’t speak, had been in the store for ten minutes before making his move. The note said “Hand off everything. Don’t raise attention.”

The robber used his feet to hold a gun on the man behind the counter. Note that the other customer in the store doesn’t seem phased at all by what’s going on, appearing to apply hand sanitizer while continuing to casually browse the display cases.

The good news: all involved were wearing face masks and appeared to maintain proper social distancing.

From the Daily Mail:

‘Then he pulled the gun out with his feet. That pistol looked real,’ the worker said, according to Brazilian news outlet Metropoles. ‘A guy back there saw it and called 911.’

The police arrived and arrested the teenager, who was also in possession of a knife.

A family member appeared at the police precinct and assisted the police in questioning the teen due to his disability before he was released from custody.

brazil gun feet jewelry store robbery
Courtesy Rio Grande de Sul state police

The would-be thief was released?

‘It must be considered that, given the elements initially brought to the police station, it would possibly be an impossible crime to be consummated, especially if you considered the physical condition of the [person being] investigated, also due to the unlikelihood of escape,’ [City delegate Vladimir] Medeiros said.

Oh. It’s probably a good thing for the man in the wheelchair that no one who worked in the store was armed.

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50 COMMENTS

    • I don’t know if I want to laugh at this story, or give kudos to the creativity.

      Something stuck out to me when reading the article, though. If this young man is indeed 19 years old, then he’s a legal adult and a “man”. Not a “teenager” as referred to by the Daily Mail. You’d better believe the local D.A. will use the term “man” in order to convey that this was not a kid with a toy, but a legal adult who brandished a deadly weapon for criminal gain. The more we (the collective “we” as society) continue to refer to young men and women as less than what they are, the more those youngsters will continue to act like overgrown children.

      • Technically, he’s an adult and a teenager. He’ll be a teen until he’s 20, assuming he makes it to 20.

        Also, how familiar are you with Brazilian prosecution practices for the disabled? I mean, I have no idea how a prosecutor in Canela, Brazil will treat this.

        Considering what I’ve actually seen in Brazil, I kinda doubt they’ll throw the book at him.

        • 1) I seem to have overlooked the part where it stated the jurisdiction, so you’re correct…I cannot reliably predict how a foreign attorney will treat this case.

          2) Both your points lean in support of this man’s defense. Not so sure I understand why you’d want to do that…

        • 2) There’s what should be and then there’s what actually is. I lean towards the reality of what I’ve seen because sugarcoating shit is half the problem with this world.

          I’ve been all over this world, see quite a bit, particularly for my age. Other parts of the world just don’t work like the US and probably never will. There’s no point I deluding ourselves about this.

        • The communists and miscreants here are trying pretty hard to turn the US into the rest of the world so it will be just as disfuctional.

  4. A few years ago, a man in a wheelchair in Jacksonville, FL was holding police at bay with a disposable plastic dinner knife and was shot and killed when he wouldn’t surrender to police.

  5. I’d be tempted to just give him what he wants because I’d be more impressed than scared.

    “Actually I’m not even mad. That’s amazing!” – Ron Burgundy

  7. I think it would have been funnier than hell for the store guy to grab a couple of ratchet straps and flagged down a passing buss to hitch roller man to. No need to involve the cops.

  8. Here is a question….Is this a justifiable use of deadly force? I mean just walking up behind the twit and hitting him in the head (that does not look like an easily maneuverable chair) .

    Reminds me of the kid who pulled a revolver on me in the projects. Being taught “situational awareness” I noticed i could see light in the cylinders i was in a dark room, he was standing in a bright lit doorway and you could see the back light through the gun. The gun was not cocked.

    Rather than draw my weapon I disarmed him and treated him to the alternative form of public housing.

  9. I think this guy actually just wanted to die. Being stuck in a wheelchair and crippled like that would drive me mad.

  10. Lol they let him go because he’s a retarded cripple. Disability or not, he still deserved to catch a hot one in that situation. The only problem with that is youll be know as the guy who smoked a mental returd.

  11. The would-be robber displayed some impressive footwork in his short criminal career…

    I’m curious how he would do on the Tueller Drill with that 8″ chef’s knife.

  13. Deaf, mute, paralyzed and wheelchair bound.
    Yeah, I can see why he might of hoped the shopkeep was armed.

  14. Geez. That’s the question, isn’t it?? What would YOU do if a cripple in a wheelchair pointed a gun at you with his feet?? If you put a few in him, an overzealous DA would not only charge you with excessive use of force, but discriminating against the “differently abled.” Would that be a hate crime??

  18. It’s been awhile since I laughed this hard upon reading the headline and seeing the photo! 😂

  20. In Brazil, he would have been released even if he wasnt in a wheelchair.

    Crime is rampant because only multi-multi offenders go to jail.

  21. It would cost more to incarcerate him than it was worth, was probably a fair chunk of the “Do we prosecute him” equation.

  23. I have personally seen one person who lost both of his arms compete in a competitive pistol shooting event. He was not the fastest person to complete the course but in my mind he was the most impressive person there. He carried the semiautomatic hand gun in an ankle holster, sat either in a chair or on the ground, drew the pistol from the holster using his bare feet, fired the mag, and then reloaded for the next targets. As far as I am concerned he was one hell of a man who did not let his physical disabilities limit him very much.

  24. “The robber used his feet to hold a gun on the man behind the counter.”
    The article from the Daily Mail used as a source for this article states this was a “toy plastic gun.”

    Even the Daily Mail article title says it was a fake gun:
    “Moment paralyzed deaf-mute teenager attempts to rob a jewelry shop in Brazil with a fake gun held with his FEET.”

    Kind of an important detail left out of the TTAG article. Maybe the Daily Mail article was updated to include the fake gun/toy gun information after Dan wrote this article.
    In many US states using a fake, realistic-looking gun in a crime has the same penalty as using a real gun, but still would hate to shoot a mentally disabled man using a toy gun that only appeared to be dangerous.

  25. A+ for effort! Actually there’s a possibility that in Brazil, he might have wanted to go to prison for the free room and board considering he might not be employable…. actually he just proved that he’s employable as a police officer or security guard….

  27. lol off duty brazilian cop would have wrecked him. bless his lil heart 😂😂😂

  29. Does he think he won’t be recognized???

    And folks wonder why Texas has a “just needed killin'”rule.

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