A Pittsburgh pizza shop employee is being credited for his quick-thinking during an armed robbery in a string of incidents extending past state lines.
Shashanareddy Gaddu, the general manager of the West View Domino's Pizza, was a victim of one of four incidents in the Pittsburgh area and told WTAE that he managed to call for help using his smartwatch after the suspect, later identified as Miambo Maombi, 21, took his cell phone.
"That was on my hand. He didn't check it, so I texted my sister and an employee and the owner. My sister called the police, my employee called the police and they were here in a few minutes," Gaddu said.
Gaddu said the suspect, wearing a mask and carrying a gun, ordered him to empty the cash registers.
"I was shaking. He had the gun to my head," Gaddu said.
He said the suspect then asked him for the password for the store's safe, which Gaddu said takes nine minutes to open.
Gaddu said the suspect ordered him and his trainee into a cooler and took their phones. The suspect threatened to be back, but Gaddu managed to lock the cooler from the inside.
Gaddu said he then realized he could call for help by using his smartwatch.
The suspect fled the scene and went on to commit two more robberies in Ohio before being arrested following a traffic stop in Indiana.
Maombi was charged in relation to the six robberies -- four in the Pittsburgh area and two in Ohio -- and investigators are working with the FBI to determine the appropriate venue for additional charges, WTAE reports.