Employee stops brazen robbery at a Northeast Fresno furniture store

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Mike Dupree was not about to let a crook walk out of his store without paying.

Dupree manages the Fashion Furniture Outlet Store in North Fresno. Tuesday was an eventful day for him. Surveillance video shows a man pulling up to the front of the building, casually walks inside, and then minutes later attempts to steal a $550 table and loads it in the back of his pickup.

What the suspect was not counting on was the store manager's quick thinking and bravery. Dupree noticed what was happening and raced to the front of the store to confront the man; he pulled down the truck door and took the table back.

"I did what, like, a lot of our employees would have done and just try to get the furniture. It wasn't his and he was stealing something that wasn't."

The suspect remains at large while Fresno Police investigate the case. Detectives need the public's help to identify the suspect in the video.

"I just hope somebody is going to watch this video and recognize the vehicle, recognize the individual in the video, be brave enough to come forward and make that phone call," said Det. Patrick Mares, Fresno Police.

Dupree was back at a work Wednesday, just one day after suffering a busted lip and slight injury to his leg during the altercation.

"When I had the table I was pulling it out and he pushed the table and it coldcocked me right up here, I'm kind of swollen. I tried to grab him through the window, his window was open a little bit, but he sped off and that was it."

The store manager has worked here for over 20 years and told us this was the wildest thing to ever happen to him at work.

As far as the suspect is concerned, police said the Chevy pickup in the video was stolen from Southeast Fresno Tuesday morning.