Beauty-School Beatdown

From Harper's:

A man in Shreveport, Louisiana, attempted to rob a beauty school at gunpoint only to be severely beaten by nearly thirty women with sticks, table legs, and curling irons. "They kept pulling him back in and beating him," said a policewoman. "I wore him out with that stick," one woman said.

From Fox:

"I thought it was someone just playing, but then I saw that big old gun," manager Dianne Mitchell told The Times of Shreveport. "He said, 'Get down, big mama.'"

The masked robber ordered the people in the room — 18 to 20 students and teachers — to lie on the floor, leading some to think they were going to be killed.

"You'll be the first to go," he allegedly growled to one crying woman.

After collecting everyone's money, the gunman pushed the school's sole male employee, Abram Bishop, toward the back of the room — but then turned and began to run out the door.

That's when Mitchell stuck out her leg. The robber tripped over it, dropped the gun and slammed into a wall.

Bishop immediately jumped on his back, forcing the stick-up man down to the floor.

"Get that sucker!" yelled Mitchell, and the dozen and a half women present grabbed whatever they could get their hands on — curling irons, chairs, a table leg — and piled on.

"They just whooped the hell out of him," said school owner Sharon Blalock.

Crying in pain, bleeding and having soiled his pants, the gunman tried to crawl away, but the angry women held on to his legs and kept hitting him until police arrived.

Gipson was charged with armed robbery and taken to LSU Hospital (search) in a neck brace, having suffered multiple lacerations. No one else was seriously hurt.

"He got what he deserved," said student Renae Collier.

Gipson's gun turned out to be unloaded.