Grandma Uses Scooter to Fight Off Robbers in Clown Masks
Men threatened Texas woman with machetes. She beat one with her granddaughter’s scooter.

Charles Platiau/Reuters
A Texas woman successfully fought off a pair of machete-wielding robbers in clown masks by striking them with her granddaughter’s scooter. NBC News reports Aretha Cardinal and her husband, Joseph Nelson, were approached last week by the masked men outside their home in Texas City before they placed a machete against Nelson’s throat. Nelson told Houston’s KTRK TV: “I’m sitting here [in the driveway of their home] talking to my wife and next thing I know I look up and I see somebody running toward me with this white clown mask on and a machete.” The robbery didn’t go as planned: Nelson wrestled the machete off one assailant while Cardinal grabbed a nearby child’s scooter and beat the other assailant repeatedly with it. The robbers attempted to flee, but the couple chased them down, reportedly smashing their getaway vehicle window with the scooter. Police identified the suspects as Jose Lugo, 35, and Luis Jimenez, 32. Both are charged with aggravated robbery charges and are being held on a $100,000 bond. The scooter, unfortunately, was broken in half during the struggle.
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