Tractor Supply customer shoots out tire to stop shoplifters in Mobile, Alabama

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MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — Shots were fired Friday morning during a dramatic take down at a Tractor Supply in Theodore.

Witnesses said two men were trying to steal merchandise and that's when customers took action, determined to stop them.

The shots did not come from the suspects. One customer pulled out his gun and shot out at least one of the tires on the suspect's SUV.

"Don't come to Theodore and rob a Tractor Supply without knowing the person is going to have a gun, everyone is walking around with guns in Theodore," Ryan Maxie said.

Maxie and his fiancé Katie Clark were in the parking lot when they heard shots fired after two men loaded up their buggy with unpaid merchandise.

"I was trying to call 911 while we were seeing what was going on," Clark said.

Turns out the two suspects, Troy Brown and Toby Priest, thought they were going to get away but customers had a different plan. Priest was pulled out of the getaway SUV by a customer, according to witnesses.

"What was funny is the guy put his hands up to his mouth and went like that, and when he went like that, a big o'l bag full of white powder came and hit the ground. It was like dude, we all know you threw it," Maxie said. "You got like 15 people standing around, everybody is going to be able to tell."

The other suspect, Brown, took off but he didn't make it far since a different customer shot out one of the tires.

"They kind of beat on each other inside the car, the guy was trying to get him so he wouldn't start the car," Maxie said. "Unfortunately, he was able to get it started and floored it back so the guy had to step back so he didn't get hit. When he floored it back he came out this entrance place and went to that light right there and hit a U-turn and kind of did a couple donuts in the road."

Mobile Police later found that car abandoned with at least one flat tire on Highway 90 at the I-10 entrance.

"The guy that was in the car had a mask on so it was kind of difficult to tell," Maxie said.

Maxie and other witnesses said Mobile Police eventually found Brown, the suspect that fled. They also said when he returned, he had a whole new outfit on.

Brown and Priest were booked into Mobile Metro Jail and are being charged with felony theft in the 3rd degree.

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