A Subway employee has been suspended from her job after having to physically fight back against an armed robber.
Last Sunday, Araceli Sotelo was working her shift at the sandwich chain on 1120 East State Street in Rockford, Illinois. As reported by the Daily Mail, she was then accosted by a man who entered the store and demanded money.
Recalling the incident to WTVO, Sotelo said: "[He said], 'Give me all the money' and I said, 'I do not have any money, like, I do not have any money'. That is all I had and he was just like, 'Give me everything, give me everything before I hurt you.
"He kind of just showed me his gun, and I was like freaking out like, 'Woah you can't do that please leave.'"
More on this story in the video below:After allegedly pleading with the man to leave and telling him that she would not call the police, she opted to fight back - in her words, using her size advantage against him. "I have that advantage - I'm bigger than him, so I can at least put my weight on him," she said.
Security cameras in the store picked up the confrontation between the pair, and show the moment the assailant dropped his gun as Sotelo fought to keep hold of her purse.
She can then be seen picking up the firearm and hitting him with it, before he got away with her purse.
The security footage was then leaked online - an act which Sotelo has denied doing.
However, despite telling her manager that she was not the person to upload the footage, she has now been suspended from working at the store. Messages from her manager shared with WTVO show the manager saying that her suspension will cease when "all the videos come down".
"They did not want anyone to know, they wanted to be private that it happened to me and that I fought back, but I think they did that because they do not want corporate to know," Sotelo said.
Since the attack, Sotelo has shared the footage to her TikTok account, along with the caption: "A man came into my job and tried to rob me".
The full video can be seen below (Warning - upsetting content):Support for Sotelo has been overwhelming.
As well as people in her comments section praising her courage, Sotelo's mom has also started a GoFundMe to help pay for the repairs to fix her daughter's phone, which was damaged in the scuffle.
The description of the GoFundMe reads: "My name is Sylvia Oviedo and over the weekend my daughter was robbed while working (alone) and she fought him off and he only took HER purse.
"Nothing from the store was stolen. Her manager has now suspended her from work leaving her without a job after she heroically defended the store. My daughter now has a broken phone, no ID, No debit card and no purse and he rufuses to compensate her for any of it."
In an update to the GoFundMe page, the money raised will now go toward an attorney and loss of wages. As of this writing, over $10,600 has been raised.
WTVO says it reached out to the owner of the store several times, but did not hear back.
However, in a statement to the Daily Dot, Carsen Anderson, Senior Manager of Corporate Communications at Subway, said: "We are deeply concerned about the recent incident at a franchised location in Rockford, Illinois.
"The restaurant owner and management are fully cooperating with the police investigation, and we request patience until that process is complete."
VT has contacted Subway for comment.