In a time when violent mass theft is becoming more and more commonplace, these employees should be regarded as nothing short of national heroes:

Employees punched, kicked and weaponized a chair to fight off thieves armed with hammers during an attempted smash-and-grab heist on Sunday at a jewelry store in the Bella Terra shopping center in Huntington Beach.

The thieves bolted into Princess Bride Diamonds at 7821 Edinger Ave around noon, police said. Four people dressed in dark clothing immediately used a hammer to smash a display case, as seen in surveillance footage the store shared in an Instagram story. ...

As the masked thieves ransacked the store, two employees rushed at them and exchanged blows, knocking one intruder to the ground, the video shows. Another staff member carrying a chair ran toward the melee and struck one of the thieves with it as they attempted to flee.

"We fought back and are ok," someone from the store wrote in the intro to the Instagram video. "Fortunately they were not able to get anything thanks to our awesome team."

"We fought back..." Boy, did they!

Check out the footage:

These folks are absolute kings of the ring. The woman alone came into the fight like a merciless tornado, landing a series of brutal rabbit kicks on one of the thieves as he was down:

Not everyone was happy with the heroic behavior of the store workers.

As one retired LAPD police officer put it:

My hope is that businesses train their employees knowing when to activate the alarm, knowing when to dial 911 and give a description of what's happening. That's the key.

Yeahhhh...they could do that if your police department hadn't been gutted by "equity" policies and/or your politicians weren't letting crime run rampant everywhere.

When social channels break down, people fight back.

If my livelihood's getting threatened, I think I know what I'll opt for!

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