‘He saved my life’: Restaurant worker recalls how marine veteran Robert Sundin died guarding her during heist
VALLEJO, CALIFRONIA: Robert Sundin, 70, a US Marine Corps veteran, was shot dead on Thursday morning, on December 15, while protecting a restaurant worker during an armed robbery in Vallejo, California. A Vallejo restaurant employee, Teresa Brasher, described Sundin, one of her regular customers, as a "hero" for helping her after she was challenged by the robber.
Brasher said, "He saved my life. That's the type of person he was. He's always going to be my guardian angel for life." Sundin, according to Brasher, gave up his life to protect her on Thursday morning. Sundin, 70, was a former US Veteran of the Marine Corps who worked in the VA healthcare system. He also volunteered at the church. Brasher further added, "God wasn't ready for me. But they had a place for Bob up there."
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Sundin would leave his Napa house at 5.30 am every weekday and park outside Scotty's Restaurant on Tennessee and Tuolumne streets in Vallejo. He'd interact with Brasher when she entered the eatery to work. However, before daybreak on Thursday, December 15, that routine became fatal. Brasher claims she was parked outside the restaurant when a man wearing a sweatshirt and a ski mask approached her car on an electric scooter, as reported by Fox News.
Brasher said, "He came up to my door, and he pointed his finger at me. He was pointing at my purse. I don't know if he used his finger or a gun." That's the point in time when Sundin came in between, to rescue the woman. "The guy grabs him. And I can see Bob pulling away like that, and that's when I heard the gunshot go off," she added. At the same moment that Sundin died, the robber escaped the scene.
Sundin, according to KVTU Fox 2, would sit in the same chair every morning, reading the newspaper and making small conversation as restaurant personnel prepared his usual order. Scotty's owner, Nay Ung, talked about Sundin, saying, "That's what makes it hard. He was just such a wonderful man. It was just somebody you come across, and you feel comfortable talking to him." Sundin volunteered for maintenance at First Assembly of God, a Fairfield church where he also oversaw the men's ministry and a young men's program, according to reports.