JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Brand new video obtained by Action News Jax shows a robbery suspect canvassing a Riverside restaurant twice, even sitting by the front door at one point before coming back with a gun and holding up the restaurant and the diners on Thursday night.
Action News Jax looked through the video with Pattaya Thai's owner and he was surprised to see the same guy in the restaurant three times last night.
In just 10 minutes, the suspect went inside Pattaya Thai three different times and never ordered anything; just canvassed the place and waited for the right moment to make his move.
At 8:19 p.m., the robber walked inside, made no eye contact and walked straight to the bathroom.
Around 8:20 he walked out, lingers around the counter and even looks up towards the surveillance camera right in front of him while on the phone and eventually leaves.
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Around 8:22 he came back and sat behind two unsuspecting customers for three minutes. He then scoped out the place while on the phone and walks out again.
In the meantime, owner Russell Clayton was in the kitchen like he always is—cooking.
"We are always there cooking for our customers, it's what we do, it's in our blood," Clayton said.
The robber came back a third time, with a gun, and demanded customers' wallets and stole the tip jar.
"One of my servers looked at me and mouthed "gun" that's how I knew something was going on," Clayton said.
Action News Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said this should be a reminder; no matter where you are, you should be on alert.
"If you're walking into a business and you see what appears to be an unsavory character, don't go in that that business; these people were blindsided," Jefferson said.
Clayton added new cameras to his business on Friday, hoping if it happens again, the cameras will help put the robber behind bars.
Action News Jax searched the crime stats for Riverside and South Riverside and found there have been 715 reported crimes, including assault, burglaries and theft since the beginning of last year. There have been 223 reported crimes in the past 90 days.
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