Patrons of a coffee shop in Gowrie - including an ex-cross country runner - chased and pinned down an "axe-wielding robber" who held up the local supermarket only metres away on Sunday.
A relaxed Sunday morning at the Gowrie shops suddenly turned into high drama when patrons saw a man with what appeared to be an axe or tomahawk walk past them towards the supermarket.
Peter Badowski, Nathan Dunn and Nick Hourigan were with their families at the Common Grounds cafe when they saw the man.
"I was sitting here waiting for my breakfast and we saw this guy in dark clothing head up towards the supermarket," Mr Badowski said.
"And I saw what looked to be a tomahawk in his hand. I got up and followed him up and spoke to somebody else and said, 'Did you see what I saw?' and he said, 'Yep'.
"We started walking up towards the supermarket and this guy came charging out and we just took off and chased him up the street."
Mr Badowski, Mr Dunn and Mr Hourigan chased the man up Castleton Crescent.
"He fell over a couple of times, got up again, ran a bit further, fell over again and then he fell over in the street and the other guy who was with me went for his feet and I went for his head and we managed to tackle him to the ground and a couple of other people came along and we held him down."
Several men had to wrestle the axe from the man, who was swinging it towards them.
"He had his hand on the gutter and I was belting his hand and eventually he loosened his grip on the tomahawk and we managed to get it off him and then the police arrived."
Three men held the robber down and another three stayed close by. An off-duty policewoman stopped in her car to supervise and police arrived about five minutes later.
Mr Dunn, a former cross country runner, was the first to get to the man and tackled him, with the other patrons right behind him.
He had been having breakfast with his parents at the cafe when he heard a man with a hoodie had robbed the supermarket and immediately got up and gave chase.
Mr Dunn, who grew up in Gowrie, was humble about his part in the citizen arrest.
"I think it was a great community response and shows the spirit of Gowrie," he said.
Mr Hourigan was at the cafe with his wife and one of his children.
"The guy ran out of the store and ran up the street and a few guys chased him and disarmed him and waited for the police to arrive," he said.
Alicia Hourigan said it was quite a scary experience.
"We were sitting here having breakfast and my daughter saw a gentleman walk past and thought it was quite odd. And then we heard this loud bang. He must have run into the cleaning stand over there," she said.
"And as he ran past, he was running and we saw the tomahawk and we thought, 'What is that?'. And then we saw everyone running and my husband got up and ran after him and supported these gentlemen and, yeah, took the tomahawk out of his hand.
"It was very scary, very scary. Definitely.
"Shocking. It was weird. We thought maybe it was a Halloween costume ... It didn't seem real. And odd that it happened with so many people around."
The robbery occurred at the Gowrie Friendly Grocer about 9.45am.
Owner Brian Shea said he chased the man out of the shop, thinking that he was going to get in a car and hoping to get the number plate details.
But the man ran back down towards the cafe.
Mr Shea said it was the second time in 12 years the supermarket had been held up.
"I'm just glad it was me and not one of the kids," he said, referring to his young shop assistants.
Mr Shea said he appreciated the efforts of the public but was not sure confronting someone potentially dangerous was worth "a couple of hundred dollars".
An ACT Policing spokesperson said it received reports of a robbery at the Gowrie supermarket about 9.50am on Sunday.
"Police attended and took a 30-year-old man into custody about 9.54am. A bag containing stolen goods was located a short time later," the spokesperson said.
"ACT Policing would like to thank the members of the community who reported the incident while it was in progress, and those who intervened.
"The arrested man is expected to remain in police custody overnight to face court Monday morning on several charges."
Anyone with any information that can assist police is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via the Crime Stoppers ACT website. Please quote reference 7276087.
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