Man fights off armed robber trying to steal his Louis Vuitton bag
Despite two warning shots, Jerad Kluting said the robber would have to pry the bag out of his "cold dead hands."
A Michigan man stood his ground against an armed gunman who tried to steal his Louis Vuitton bag.
Jerad Kluting was walking down Riley Street in Holland Township on Monday evening when the would-be robber pulled a gun on him.
“It happened very fast,” Kluting said to WCMH-TV. “In one motion he took the gun out of his waist belt and with the other hand put up a bandana over his mouth and pointed it, and was like, ‘Give me your bag.’”
Kluting said that he saved up his money — around $1,700 — for the Louis Vuitton bag, and that the design is no longer in production.
“I love Louis Vuitton and I saw this bag long before I could buy it and I saved up my money,” Kluting said. “It means a lot to me.… It represents me. I wasn’t about to relinquish my personal property.”
Despite the gunman firing off three shots, one of which was aimed at him, Kluting stood his ground to keep his bag out of the assailant’s hands.
“I was like, ‘You’re not getting my Louis Vuitton.’ I worked very hard for this and this bag I’ve had forever and it means a lot to me,” Kluting said. “I wasn’t about ready to relinquish it to some thug that was going to demand it from me.”
After the would-be robber ran off, authorities pulled over and arrested a 21-year-old suspect whose car matched the description provided by Kluting. A stolen handgun was found in the car as well.
Kluting said that he has no regrets about how he handled the encounter, despite the potential risk.
“I got my bag,” Kluting said. “He can pry it out of my cold dead hands.”
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