Oakland construction workers fight off armed thieves

A group of Oakland construction workers have the internet buzzing after disarming an armed robber attempting to target them.

It happened Thursday morning near 44th and West Street. 

“The construction workers next door yelled at me to go back inside and they said, ‘go back inside, go back inside! He has a gun, he has a gun!’” said Elise, who witnessed the incident.

She was walking out her front door when she saw a group of landscapers and construction workers next door being robbed at gunpoint. 

“I heard the man in the car yel, ‘I’ll kill  you, I’ll kill you to the construction workers,’” said Elise.  

“They pointed the gun at my friend. They pointed the gun at him and at me. Then I reacted and tried to disarm them,” said Guadalupe Ramon-Valcazar.

He is one of the six workers targeted while working on West Street. 

He said first, a man stole his friend's wallet across the street at gunpoint. Moments later, the same man crossed the street to rob him and another friend, demanding their phones and wallets. When the gunman turned towards his friend. Ramon-Valcazar said he decided to hit the gunman with a shovel to smack the gun away.  

“In that moment a lot of things were crossing my mind. And in that moment, I said, 'this person is not going to take anything from us,' and thank God what I did worked and we were able to disarm this person,” he said. 

The suspect and a getaway driver took off, but it didn't end there. Ramon-Valcazar said they came back to get the gun they had dropped. And that’s when all six of the workers fought back, throwing cans of paint, buckets, and even busting the suspect's windshield with a wooden plank until they drove away.   

Ramon-Valcazar said this isn't the first time they have been robbed in Oakland. 

“We feel frustrated because they are robbing a lot of people. But if we unite, we will prevent things like this from happening,” he said. “A lot of people get scared and don’t do anything, but I did it. I feel happy and proud that I helped my friends and myself.”

Elise said this is the third time someone has been robbed at gunpoint on her street in the past three months. 

“It also makes me scared, I walk my dog by myself all the time in this neighborhood. I don’t wear any jewelry, I don’t bring my phone, I don’t even bring my car keys because god forbid someone tries to rob me on my walk,” she said.

Police said Sunday that they had recovered black Nissan involved, but are still searching for the suspects. They also said they don't advise people to fight with an armed gunman.

But Ramon-Valcazar says he would do it all again.