Who is Sayda Ventura? Video shows hero LA store clerk seizing robber's knife and driving him away
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Dramatic camera footage shows a young mini-market employee seizing a huge kitchen knife that a robber pushed into her stomach and using it to fight him back as she chased him out of the Los Angeles store. The robber held up 26-year-old cashier Sayda Ventura with a blade that was several inches long, according to surveillance footage from Amaya's Mini Market in Westlake.
On Thursday, February 9, shop surveillance cameras caught a man walking behind the counter while wearing a red baseball cap and a black facemask, and then pinning Ventura with a huge knife in her side and abdomen. In a flash, Ventura snatched the knife from the man's grasp and yelled after him as he fled the store. About 15 seconds were spent on the entire exchange, as reported by Fox 11.
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Who is Sayda Ventura?
The only employee at the store was Ventura, who had only recently begun working there to help pay for her nursing assistant training. Ventura claimed that the customer had entered the store to purchase deodorant when he allegedly moved behind the counter with the knife as she went to fetch his change.
21 Alivenews reported Ventura claimed the man warned her to be silent and "don't say nothing, don't move because I'm killing you if you say something." “It’s really scary. I think all people scare when they see knives or a gun or something like that,” the clerk said. “It’s super, super scared to me because I don’t see nothing when he put the nails in my tummy.”
How did Ventura fight back?
When the suspect pushed his knife against her body, the woman shouted out. In a split second, she decided to fight back, and the video shows her screaming as she grabs the knife with both hands and pulls it away from the surprised robber's grasp. She then pursued him, mercilessly slashing him down with the blade as he fled for his life. She flipped the script once more, this time declaring that she would kill him if he ever returned. "I'm killing you if you come back," she said.
She got a few cuts on her hands, but the suspect clearly wasn't anticipating her bravery. “I’m angry at him. I want to find him,” the clerk stated.
Rene Amaya, the owner of the shop, claims she had previously witnessed petty theft at the place but nothing as serious as this. She claims that the robber was a paying customer only moments ago but remained after observing another client send money via wire transfer. “He wanted to get all the money because he knew it was a huge amount of money we were transferring,” Amaya said.
According to Amaya, the suspect left the store and returned approximately five minutes later with a large knife in a plastic bag. She expresses gratitude for her clerk's safety, calling it "the most important thing." Police have no information on the culprit and are requesting that anyone with information contact them.