Victim turns table on would-be robber

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - A woman played a switch on a would-be robber last week.

After an afternoon shopping at Bass Pro Shops, she decided to help a young man who asked for help.

"I try to be nice. And there was a kid sitting on a trash can and I just smiled and kept walking...He said, 'yes, ma'am, it's kind of hot out here and I'm tired. Can you give me a ride over to the gas station?' I'm like, 'sure, come on,'" said Cindy Webster.

Webster then said the man asked her to drive him to the Staybridge Suites to meet his friend. That hotel is less than a mile away from Bass Pro.

When they got to the parking lot, Webster said the young man said "let me text my friend to let him know we're here."

"And he turns around with a gun in his hand and he says, 'give me everything in your purse.' And I had put the little pouch that I keep my Ruger in, in the door pouch, and I just pulled it up and said 'no, get out of my car.' He scurried out of my car like a crawdad turning back into the hole," said Webster.

Webster said nothing was stolen and she's thankful she had protection to avoid a bad situation.

"I pray that pulling it out is enough to diffuse the situation like it was this time. And I always have a firearm with me," said Webster.

Now, the search for the suspect is on.

Oklahoma City Police said they're getting security footage from Bass Pro and surrounding areas to help find the man.

"Whether it's a robbery, a shooting, a burglary, a larceny. Call it what you want to. We're going to be able to see it very clearly through the eyes of the camera, just as if it's a witness there," said Gary knight, a PIO with OKC Police.

Webster said while the suspect didn't steal anything of hers, he left a drink and his phone inside the car, those were given to police.