Investigators are on the hunt for two men who came to a north St. Louis auto repair shop, beat up a man and took off with a car.
Beaten and bruised, the 48-year-old, who only wants to be identified as "T," can't believe what happened to him.
"You can't just go around 'King Kong-ing' people,” he said.
He's a familiar face at the Road Auto Service Shop off Hall Street and Blase Avenue in the Baden neighborhood. The shop is also identified as Rhodes Truck & Body Repair.
"I'm a guard dog. I watch this place,” T added.
He was there Thursday when two men came in and noticed a car. It was a car they brought to be repaired that somehow had been damaged. T isn't on the payroll, but staff and owners look out for him, sometimes giving him a place to lay his head. The angry customers could care less.
"These guys come up to me, 'What happened to my car.' He goes 'You're the only one here.' I'm like 'What are you talking about? I didn't know."
They beat him to the ground and took off with the cash in his pocket. It happened in broad daylight just before 1p.m. The victim understands it could've been a whole lot worse.
"[They] didn't shoot me. Could've shot me. I could be dead,” he added.
"They beat this guy. That's not fair … he's got nothing to do with the car. He's got nothing to do with the situation,” Mark Tamimi, the car repair shop owner, said.
Tamimi said he leases the space to someone who works on cars and stores products at the shop.
The angry customers decided to take off with the mechanic's car, a maroon Dodge Charger and the Chevy Equinox they arrived in.
"I am thinking about next week, putting some new locks and putting these guys out and close it. It's just not worth it. The business like this, it's not worth it,” Tamimi added.
T considers himself lucky to be alive.
"I don't have a pistol. I don't have a knife and they know this man … I'll forgive them but I need my money back … It's all the money I saved up. I was saving up to do things." he said.
The car that the suspects complained about was still at the business Friday.
Police are investigating this as a robbery and burglary case.
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