OREGON, Ohio — A husband and wife who own and operate an Oregon business are concerned after an encounter with two teens that they believe could have ended with extreme consequences.
Hillary Hartford use to serve her customers on Woodville Road with a smile but she said after being harassed in the last couple of weeks, the sound of the door opening is now a sign to be on guard.
"You get a little nervous. You don't know who's going to be the last person to come in the door like they did with him that night. So, you're constantly on edge now. At least, I am," Hartford said.
She said it happened around 8 p.m. on Aug. 7, when her husband came to close the store. Two kids, ages 14 and 15, had returned after threatening to rob the shop a week before, she said.
"He had just said 'them kids came back,'" Hartford said.
But this time, they returned with a weapon; something the shop owner didn't know until he took matters into his own hands.
"So, my husband tackled the young man to the ground and his friend tried to hide the gun and the police found it," Hartford said.
According to a police report, "suspect 1" was detained by the shop owner when he "pulled out what looked like a black handgun."
Suspect 1 yelled to suspect 2 to "grab the gun," the report said, and that's when suspect 2 took the gun and threw it into the bushes of a parking lot nearby.
Oregon police said a BB gun was found in the bushes.
Hartford said they would have never known the gun wasn't real.
"From my understanding, most BB guns are supposed to have a red marking on them like an orange florescent or a green, and this one didn't have one and it looked just like a real gun," Hartford said.
The teens face criminal charges including aggravated menacing and obstructing official business, Oregon police said.
Hartford said she just hopes the teens learned a lesson, as things could have ended much worse.
"It would have been all bad for the kids, because you're going to use self-defense if you don't know," Hartford said.