GREENVILLE, S.C. —Customers inside the Costco on Woodruff Road in Greenville detained a man with a machete and pickaxe, who police say was trying to rob the store. Greenville police said they got a 911 call about an armed robbery at Costco Thursday morning, Aug. 13.
The caller said a man came into the store, went to the jewelry counter and busted out the display case. One witness said they saw him walk in wearing a mask covering his face, all black and had a backpack strapped to his front, with a hand inside the bag.
Police said the weapons were a machete and a pickaxe, but the man said he had a gun. Families inside remember alarms sounding, then yelling and running as customers and workers rushed toward the metal entry doors at the storefront.
A nanny tells us a good Samaritan, an older woman she did not know, helped her and the one and four year old she was babysitting leave out of a side entrance.
“We literally just sat down. I maybe cut two bites of the pizza for the little ones and the alarm started ringing. ‘Get out, get out.’ And in that moment I kind of froze. And I was like, do they mean like, get out of this area? Like, go hide or get out, like get out of the building,” Karolyn Reinholz said. “She just made sure I was safe and was talking so calm with the little one, just making sure they were not scared in the moment and helping all the way out the front.”
The man was detained by customers before police arrived.
“When I saw the forensics, I said to myself, I hope it’s nothing serious and nobody got hurt. Because every time you see a, you know, like that, you know, there’s a problem. You get to the point that people to have no respect for each other, no respect for the law. No respect for the country. And that’s what you see. It’s a shame,” Regular Costco shopper Gus Kouesos said.
Greenville Police took Jose Alejandro Giraldo, 24, into custody and charged him with armed robbery and assault and battery in the 3rd degree.
He is now in custody and facing armed robbery and third-degree assault and battery charges.
Giraldo has two prior criminal records in Greenville County, including trespassing and resisting arrest.
We are told one customer was hurt during the incident and treated on scene with minor injuries.
Dedicated to the Job- A witness who was in the Costco told WYFF 4 that employees were still checking receipts as people left the building as everything was going on.
Costco returned to normal operation soon after the suspect was detained.
Article and photos provided by WYFF News 4. click HERE to view.