A shoplifting turns violent at the Brooklyn Heights Key Food

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — “He looked like a California surfing dude,” Ivan Arguello, co-owner of Key Food in Brooklyn Heights, told the Brooklyn Eagle.

But the dude was not California mellow. What started as a shoplifting incident quickly escalated into a violent confrontation outside the Montague Street grocery store, when the man pulled a knife on Arguello and threatened to stab him.

Arguello credits his long-time cashier Carla for helping to save his life.

“This happened on Monday morning [March 6],” Arguello said. “I had never seen this person here and he looked suspicious. He looked like he’s not a New Yorker.”

Arguello watched the man as he walked up and down the aisles. The green shopping bag he carried had been empty when he entered the store, but it was full when he walked out the door. 

Arguello followed him out onto the sidewalk and asked to see his receipt.

“I asked him very nicely to show me the receipt. Immediately he got aggressive,” Arguello said.

Video shows Arguello and the man both tugging on the shopping bag as the cashier, Carla, runs out of the store, hands raised in alarm. As they tussled, the man suddenly waved an open knife in a menacing manner at Arguello.

“He said to me, ‘Back off,’ and then he said, ‘I’m gonna stab you,” Arguello said. 

“Carla, she went after me and she heard him say ‘I’m gonna stab you’ and she kind of pulled me off. Carla was amazing. She was worried about me,” he said.