Syracuse store owner Ruben Colon foils third robbery attempt in 15 years

It's the second time he's shot an assailant at Los Amigos market.

A sign hanging behind the counter at Los Amigos market at 204 W. Brighton Ave. bears a handgun crossed out in a circle and the words “Human sanctuary, no shooting.”

Hand-lettered across the bottom is an important addendum: “I shoot back.”

Three times in the past 15 years, store owner Ruben Colon used weapons to fight off assailants who tried to rob his store.

The first time, in 1995, he chased off would-be robbers with a machete. In 1998, Colon shot an assailant with a .357 Magnum handgun.

Monday night, when confronted by an armed man nearly a foot taller and 55 pounds heavier and half his age, Colon fired his weapon again.

The following account of Monday's foiled robbery came from court records and an interview with Colon and his family:

Colon, 65, and his wife, Marjorie, 58, noticed a man and woman hanging out around outside the store much of the day.

Colon was behind the counter about 8:45 p.m., reading an auto parts catalog, when Rayshawn Johnson walked in. Johnson, 29, came around the counter, pulled out a large kitchen-style steak knife and demanded that Colon open the cash register.

“ ‘No,’ I said, ‘You open yourself the cash,’” said Colon, a native of Puerto Rico.

While Johnson scooped money out of the cash drawer with his free hand, Colon pulled open another drawer. Johnson turned, knife held in front of him, to find Colon pointing his handgun at him.

Colon told Johnson to put the knife down. When Johnson didn’t, and came toward him, Colon pulled the trigger three times. Once the gun didn’t go off. Twice it did and one slug hit Johnson in the torso.

That didn’t stop Johnson, who picked up a metal chair. Holding it like a lion tamer, the wounded Johnson got Colon to back away around the counter and out the door.

Then Johnson grabbed for the gun.

Colon knew he had to hang on. There were at least two more rounds in the gun. But Johnson wouldn’t let go. With both men holding onto the weapon, Johnson dragged Colon along the asphalt apron in front of the store. Colon was wearing sandals and scraped the sole of his right foot and his big toe on the rough pavement.

Marjorie and the couple’s, son, Joe Brown, 35, heard shots from their apartment over the store. They ran downstairs to find Colon struggling with Johnson.

Brown got Johnson in a bear hug while she grabbed his legs, Marjorie said. The gun went off and Brown screamed, "Dad, are you all right?" she said.

Johnson escaped their grasp and fled to an apartment building across West Brighton Avenue. That’s where police found him minutes later, Colon said.

At some point, Johnson dropped the money and the knife, police said.

Johnson was treated at Upstate University Hospital for his wound and released to police custody Monday night.

Tuesday morning, Johnson, of 111 McAllister Ave., Apt. 2, was arraigned in Syracuse City Court, charged with first-degree attempted robbery and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Judge James Cecile entered not-guilty pleas on Johnson’s behalf and ordered him held without bail at the Justice Center Jail.

Police said their investigation into the incident was continuing. The criminal complaint filed in City Court noted that Colon owns the gun legally.

Marjorie Colon, meanwhile, opened the store as usual at 8:30 a.m. An hour later, Ruben Colon had joined her and was greeting customers and people who had read about the attack and stopped by to wish him well.

Each time he’s fought off a robber, it wasn’t the money he was trying to protect, Colon said. What he was protecting was his own well being, mingled with the notion that if he guards his business, fewer people will be tempted to rob him later, he said.

Marjorie Colon said the incident will not chase them from the neighborhood where they’ve lived and done business nearly 33 years. The people who cause trouble are not their neighbors, she said, they are drug addicts who invade the area.

“This is our home. Nobody is going to push us from our home. That’s crazy,” she said. “I’m not planning on going anywhere. They’re going to have to kill us to get us out.”

Robert A. Baker contributed to this report.

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