Security stops armed man with devil mask
Three "heroic" security guards are being praised after surveillance video captured them stopping an armed man wearing a devil mask from entering a Florida strip club, potentially saving "dozens of lives," the Tampa Police Department said Tuesday.
Police said the suspect, identified as 44-year-old Michael Rudman, arrived at Mons Venus on Sunday wearing a red and black devil mask with the words "Kill" and "Dark One" written on his arms. The suspect is seen in the surveillance footage walking toward the entrance of the strip club with what police said was a fully loaded firearm in one hand and a flashlight in the other.
One of the security guards noticed the firearm and knocked the weapon out of the suspect's hand. The guard then picked up the gun and pointed it at the suspect, but rather than back down, he attempted to grab the gun back. A struggle then ensued with three guards attempting to hold Rudman and pin him to the ground. One of the guards suffered minor injuries during the incident, police said.
๐จ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ๐ค๐๐, ๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐ญ ๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐๐งโ๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐จ At approximately 1:15 a.m. on Sunday, March 19, 2023, Michael Rudman, 44, arrived in a silver pickup truck at Mons Venus (๐2040 N Dale Mabry Highway) and exited his vehicle, wearing a red and black devil mask with the words โ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณโ and โ๐ซ๐จ๐น๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ต๐ฌโ written on his arms. He walked toward the entrance of the adult entertainment venue with a fully loaded firearm in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Upon seeing the firearm, a security guard engaged the suspect and knocked the weapon out of his hand. During the incident, a single round from the suspectโs gun struck the front door of the venue. No one was injured. One of three security guards involved in detaining Rudman suffered minor injuries from the altercation. #YourTampaPD arrived on scene and took Rudman into custody, locating two additional fully loaded magazines in his pocket, along with additional ammunition, knives, and firearm holsters in Rudmanโs truck. He is currently at the Falkenburg Road Jail facing charges of: ๐จ Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon ๐จ Battery ๐จ Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon ๐จ Purchasing, Possessing, or Receiving a Firearm While Under a Risk Protection Order (RPO) (๐๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ) Rudmanโs motive for Sundayโs incident is unknown at this time and is still under investigation, however, detectives have learned that Rudman visited the establishment the night prior. โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ,โ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐ข ๐พ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฌ. โ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต.โ
Posted by Tampa Police Department on Tuesday, March 21, 2023
A single round from Rudman's gun also struck the front door of the venue, police added, but it was unclear who fired the gun. No one was wounded by the gunfire.
Police eventually arrived and took Rudman into custody. They found two additional loaded magazines in his pocket and more ammunition, knives and firearm holsters in his truck, police said. Tampa Police interim Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement that they will continue to investigate the thwarted incident and praised the efforts to stop Rudman.
"There is no question that the security guards who disarmed this suspect saved dozens of lives through their heroic acts, and I am thankful our officers were able to take this individual into custody before he had a chance to carry out whatever he had planned," Bercaw said.
Rudman was booked into Falkenburg Road Jail and faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm while under a risk protection order, police said.
Police said his motive is under investigation and noted that Rudman was allegedly at the venue the night prior.
Christopher Brito is a social media manager and trending content writer for CBS News.
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