Customer tackles armed robber

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) images emerged on Thursday showing the moments when a customer and tackled a robber as he tried to raid a betting shop in northern England.
Wearing a mask and a hooded top, Azar Sulman can be seen entering the bookmakers in Burley, Leeds holding what appears to be a handgun. He then forces the cashier to hand over money.
Before Sulman can make his escape, he is prevented from leaving by Martin Richardson, an amateur rugby player. Richardson blocks his escape, hitting him twice with a chair and then holding him to the ground until police arrived.
Describing his actions, Richardson told Britain's Sky News he thought he was "going to get shot here."
"I just grabbed the chair, and as I grabbed the chair, I just whacked him twice, got him in a position where he went back. I got the gun out of his hand and then I wrestled him to the floor," he said.
Richardson said it wasn't until he had Sulman pinned to the ground that he realised what he'd done.
"It wasn't until that situation where I actually got him on the floor that I was scared, where I was actually shaking. I could feel my body trembling, but there was no way I was going to let him up off the floor," he said. Police in northern England on Thursday commended his actions, describing him as a "brave and public-spirited" man. Richardson, however, played down the praise.
"It's the sort of thing that we don't need... Somebody should be able to come in here and put a bet on without fear of someone coming in and pointing a gun at them," he said.
The January raid was Sulman's fourth on the chain of betting shops and the third at the Burley branch.
The robber, who had no previous convictions, but had a 200 pounds (292 US dollars) a week cannabis habit, used a fake handgun in the hold-ups.
Sulman was on Wednesday sentenced to six years in a young offenders' institution after pleading guilty at Leeds Crown Court to three charges of robbery and one of attempted robbery.
The judge awarded Richardson 250 British pounds (369 US dollars) from the public purse as a reward for his actions.