A routine afternoon at a Valladolid pharmacy turned chaotic when an intruder attempted to rob the establishment shortly after 13.00h.

The pharmacist at the Nicolás Salmerón Pharmacy, recounted the incident, stating, “A man entered while I was serving a customer and shouted, ‘Son of a bitch, this is a robbery!’”

The assailant approached the cash register and the computer but then turned and fled empty-handed, kicking over a few displays on his way out.

In a surprising twist to the story, a customer who was arriving just as the incident unfolded intervened, managing to subdue the would-be robber until the Policia Nacional arrived to make an arrest.

The police had responded within five minutes, during which the assailant admitted to those present that his motives were not about financial gain. “He told us he had tried to rob other pharmacies before and that he simply wanted to go back to prison,” the pharmacist revealed.

Authorities confirmed that the detained man expressed a desire to return to jail, and they noted that he had been struggling with mental health issues. “He was having a severe psychotic episode,” police sources indicated.

Despite the unsettling events, the pharmacy staff expressed an unusual empathy for the man involved. “It’s very sad that some people feel they have to resort to such extremes,” one commented, highlighting the complex social issues that can lead to such desperate actions. 

Editorial comment: An offender clearly in need of help rather than punishment… no?

(News, Valladolid, Castilla-Leon)

Keywords: Pharmacy, Robbery, Thief, Return To Jail, Psychotic Episode