Man Uses Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to Take Down Armed Robber at Gas Station

He could’ve ran away. He could’ve given the robber his money and hoped for the best.

Instead, John McGowan tread the path more crazy and choked out an armed gunman in the middle of a gas station.

(VIDEO HERE).

The incident occurred early Saturday morning at a Pennsylvania Sunoco, according to Marc Raimondi of FoxSports.com, when an armed man wearing a black ski mask walked through the doors and demanded money from the first person he saw.

That first person was McGowan, and that demand was a mistake.

McGowan, a UFC fan, refused to give up his cash and began walking toward the robber. The loaded gun pointed at his face didn’t scare him—it made him angry.

“I was already in a bad mood,” McGowan told Fox 29 News in Philadelphia. His car had been totaled earlier in the day, and some skinny man waving a gun around was the final straw.

“I said, ‘You’re ****ing with the wrong guy,” McGowan said.

Ignoring his assailant’s demands for money, McGowan lunged for the gun and managed a haphazard takedown into the chip rack. The two men tussled in the chips, with the robber ending up in top position.

The masked man—later identified as a 20-year-old man named C.J. Gostynski—ended up on top of McGowan, who began employing some basic jiu-jitsu moves to turn the tide. McGowan went for a triangle choke and ended up in the mount, where he pistol-whipped Gostynski with his own weapon.

“We went to the ground and got him in a Brazilian jiu-jitsu chokehold and just beat him with his own gun,” McGowan said.

Two shots were fired during the struggle, one nicking the side of McGowan’s shoe. Fortunately, he walked away from the incident with only an injured hand.

Wally Mansour, the owner of the gas station, said the entire sequence was unbelievable.

“It was like an action movie,” Mansour said. “He put his life on the line and he was brave enough to do it.”

McGowan kept Gostynski locked down until police arrived. Officers found ammunition and an AR-15 in the suspect’s truck.

Chalk up one less bad guy off the streets, thanks to one brave, angry man who probably has more guts than sense.

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