Restaurant owner talks about violent robbery

DECATUR, Ga. — A restaurant owner said he is working to increase security after masked gunmen zip-tied his employees during a robbery.

The robbers are still on the run.

As Channel 2's Chris Jose first reporter Friday, the robbers got away with cellphones, wallets and over $1,000 in cash.

In the middle of the dinner rush at The Pinewood in Decatur, owner Brooks Cloud opened up about a violent robbery.

“They're fighters and we're not going to let fear and hate win,” Cloud told Jose. “He said those guys seemed as scared as they did.”

Around midnight on Friday, when the restaurant was closed, a man approached an employee in the restaurant’s back parking lot, Decatur police said.

The suspect pointed his gun and forced the employee down to her knees and asked how many workers were inside.

“Those guys came in with weapons, they had to have been prepared to do certain things,” Cloud said.

Four other workers were inside the building.

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Two masked men walked in, pushed the workers down to floor and bound them with zip-ties before robbing them.

“It could've gone a lot of different ways and the way those five people handled themselves made it go the best way it possibly could,” Cloud told Jose.

Cloud said the restaurant is changing its security protocol. He said surveillance cameras will be added.

But he believes fighting crime will come down to helping people who are down on their luck.

“We believe they were forced to by their own bad decisions,” Cloud told Jose. “They don't get a pass, but it's indicative of a larger problem. And I want to fight that.”

Cox Media Group