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- A Pleasant Hill consignment-store worker scared off a group of would-be robbers by pointing his gun at them.

"I showed them my gun, and I told them to stop it, I have a gun," said 73-year-old Albert Marcu, of his confrontation with a group of young men at Estates Consignments on Contra Costa Boulevard.

"They (ran) because they saw my gun and, you know, I was serious about it," Marcu said. "They panicked, and they run out."

It happened at about 4:20 p.m. on Monday at the store which sells jewelry, rings and watches.

Surveillance video shows a woman walking through the store. Marcu believes she was a scout scoping out all the security cameras while on the phone with the young men.

Video shows the woman walking out of the store and stalling to try and keep the security guard from shutting the door on her friends. But the suspects forced the door open and bum-rushed their way inside. One of them was carrying a sledgehammer.

After a worker screams, Marcu makes his way to the jewelry section, as do the intruders. That is when Marcu pulls out his .38-caliber revolver.

The group scatters out of the shop and climbs into two Infiniti Q50s. Almost immediately, a Pleasant Hill police cruiser pulled up right behind the vehicles.

Despite the quick police response, the vehicles took off, and the intruders escaped. Marcu said, perhaps with their lives.

"If they threaten my life or the life of my employees, I'lll use the gun, 100%," he said.