ST. LOUIS — People in Midtown St. Louis are still talking about a bizarre robbery.
Police said two guys tried to pull off the crime with a fake gun, but employees and a customer at the Starbucks foiled their plan.
"I think it's super crazy," said Steven Eyma, who lives in the area.
According to court papers, in mid-afternoon Sunday Joshua Noe of Potosi and Marquise Porter-Doyle of St. Louis barged inside the business on South Grand and announced a robbery.
Investigators said the two men were armed with what appeared to be handguns, told seven employees and a customer to get on the floor, started frisking people and demanded their valuables.
Noe and Porter-Doyle ordered the Starbucks workers to open a cash register and safe, but the employees were unable to do so.
Police said that's when Noe hit an employee in the head with the weapon only for it to break into pieces.
When the workers and customers saw that it was a fake gun, they immediately grabbed Noe and foiled the attempted robbery.
The employees weren't hurt.
However, you can see in Noe's mugshot when police arrested him his face and forehead were bloody.
"I do believe they actually thought they could rob the business with that fake gun, but I don't think it was good idea. It's interesting. It just wasn't the smartest idea on their part," chuckled Steven Eyma.
The brave people inside the Starbucks held Noe down until the police arrived.
Porter-Doyle ran off after the botched robbery, but police eventually caught him.
Both men are in jail on charges of first-degree robbery, attempted robbery and assault.