Posted February 03, 2018 22:59:53

Pizza shop workers who took down an alleged robber discovered it was their former boss.

WCVB reports a man entered the Northeast Pizza eatery in Barre, Massachusetts, with what turned out to be a fake gun on Tuesday.

He allegedly climbed over the counter and demanded cash.

Employees held the man down until police arrived.

Police pulled the mask off the robber and the man was allegedly ex boss Sean Coulson, 30.

According to WCVB, Mr Coulson was fired last year.

"I was just frozen in my tracks. I didn't have the time to think about a plan or anything like that, so I just reacted," worker Trevor Kosla told WCVB.

The accused told police the attempted robbery was a joke, and he now faces charges of armed robbery and assault.

Northeast Pizza owner Steve Barrett told Telegram the incident "gave him the chills" and he considered his employees "heroes".

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, offbeat, united-states