Masked gunmen rob auto repair shop owner at gunpoint in East Lansdowne

EAST LANSDOWNE, Pa. - A quiet Friday morning erupting into moments of terror when two masked gunmen barged into an auto repair shop on Wildwood Avenue in East Lansdowne.

The criminals violently threw three people to the ground. The owner, pistol-whipped, blood running down his face, asked us not to identify him.

"Men with guns ran through the front door, and accosted all of us," the owner said, "He pistol-whipped me and I opened up the drawer and gave him the cash from the business from the daily receipts."

At one point, he grabbed a bat but thought better of swinging.

"I got a baseball bat, I was going to break the arm of the one, but then I was afraid the other one would shoot them," said the owner.

Another victim, just out of the camera's view, was also repeatedly thrown down.

"I just got thrown around a little bit. I've been robbed at gunpoint before. So it's not my first time with a gun in my face," he said.

And the receptionist, understandably emotional, explained how she tried to protect her friends, "My boss, that's my boss. Worried about him, and my mechanic. I even said shoot me! They didn't…out the door, they went. That's all I can say."

At one point, the gunmen were by the open door, in plain view of a passerby, the victims say.

The shop's owner, in business here for 47 years, is loved by neighbors.

"Great guy, he'll do anything for anyone. He always looks out for the neighborhood."

"He's not only a guy that'll help anybody he knows. He's the most generous guy in the world."

The gunmen made off with a few bucks, but in the process, one lost his mask committing a crime that sickens the neighbors.