Army dad foils theft when robber threatens kids

A soldier home on leave in Sarasota, Fla. was in a bank Tuesday with his two little boys when he suddenly found himself in the midst of an armed robbery. With the suspect waving his weapon, the soldier calmly stepped up and took charge.

Army Staff Sgt. Eddie Peoples, an Iraq War vet, can be seen standing in the background in a bank surveillance video with his 4- and 6-year-old boys as the robber enters the bank and waves a gun.

The suspect demanded money and threatened to kill anyone who didn't get on the ground.

Sgt. Peoples directed his boys to get down, moving chairs in front of them, and stood there, guarding them. Just before the suspect fled with a bag of cash, he turned and pointed his gun at the 6-year-old and made a threat.

Peoples said, "He pointed the weapon at my son and the exact words -- I'm not sure -- but it was something of the nature of 'Don't try anything or the kiddie will get it."'

That incited Sgt. Peoples to spring into action. The soldier followed the suspect out to the parking lot, and climbed into his white minivan. A video of the bank's parking lot shows Peoples slamming into the getaway car. What happened next wasn't caught by surveillance cameras, but the suspect got out of his car and pressed his gun against the sergeant's forehead. Then Peoples' military training kicked in.

Peoples said, "When he put that gun in my face after I got out of the car, I did a wrist lock on him. Got him in a half Muay Thai clinch around the back of the neck. Brought him down to the ground."

The Sarasota County sheriff honored the married father of four for his bravery.

On "The Early Show," Peoples and the two sons, Ikai, 6, and Kioni, 4, who were in the bank discussed what happened that day.

Co-anchor Erica Hill said this obviously was a new situation for the trained soldier.

Peoples said, "It was a new variable for me, because I've never been in a situation where my children have been in danger. So after I got over that part, I went into action."

Hill said, "He says, 'Don't move,' and you move because you go into action as a dad."

"I didn't care, because my first instincts were to get my children out of the line of fire," Peoples said. "Once I did that, then I moved up and edged away from them so, in case he wanted to make an example or something, he would hit me. They would be OK."

The robber also threatened Peoples' children.

"He didn't say it to me, per se, but said it to the whole bank," Peoples recalled. "But he pointed the weapon at my 6-year-old, because he could see him at the end of the sofa, and he said something to the effect of 'Don't move or the kiddies will get it,' and I was just like -- I couldn't believe it, you know. And after that, he -- I guess he looked at my face, because I was really upset then, and he said, 'You, the big black guy, don't try anything,' you know, and then he left."

But Peoples wasn't through with the thief. He followed the robber into the parking lot.

"I took him to war, basically," Peoples said.

"I came after him hard and aggressive," he said. "I put my vehicle behind his vehicle. He -- we had a battle between who was going to go. He was reversing, tires spinning out. I was driving forward, my tires are keeping him there. He got out of the vehicle, pointing the weapon at me. I fully expected to take two shots through the windshield. When that didn't happen, he came around to the driver's side and tried to open the back door to get in. The way the van works, if you touch the door too much, it'll actually close back, so he's very frustrated at this point, you know, he's kind of like banging on the window. I knew I had to do something, because I was worried about him starting shooting, so as soon as I opened the door, I was greeted with his handgun to my forehead."

Hill said, "He put it right up to your forehead."

Peoples said, "Smack in the middle."

Hill remarked, "So at this point, it becomes, 'I'm a soldier and you're messing with me."'

Peoples said, "At this point, it's get the bullet trajectory out of my forehead because that could be detrimental. "

"The Early Show" studio erupted with laughter at that remark.

Peoples continued, "With the wrist lock, what it is made to do is put the barrel to where, if it fires off, it discharges harmlessly. Once I did that, I stripped the weapon, and then it was nothing but for him to go down to the ground."

Then Peoples realized the gun, in fact, wasn't real.

"My course of action was to take that weapon, once you take it away from him, you can actually use it to hit him with. A split second, you realize this is no good. You know, I can't do -- this -- it's a toy. So then I took him down."

Peoples said he did it all to stall the suspect and give the police some time to get to the scene.

As for the kids in the bank, Peoples' 6-year-old Ikai said he wasn't scared.

He told Hill, "I knew (I would be OK), because he's in the Army, so he would beat his butt, because the bad guy's not in the Army, he's just a normal guy."

Peoples said, "Actually (my 6-year-old) ran up to me because, whenever I go in deployments, I always tell my boys to put in perspective that Daddy is going to fight the bad guys, and I walk into the bank, and he walks up and he goes, 'Daddy' -- I mean, in a loud voice, you know, 'Daddy, did you get that bad guy?' or 'Did you kick that bad guy's butt?' And I said, 'Yeah, Daddy got him,' and there were three dozen in there, and they started clapping and applauding and everything, so then I gave them all hugs."

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports deputies arrested the suspect. The Sheriff's Office identified him as Matthew Rogers, 34, a homeless Sarasota man with a criminal history, including arrests for burglary, auto theft and reckless driving.