Don Jose Abreu noticed two suspicious men seemingly “casing the joint” at his notary business last Friday.
On Monday, when two men came into Don Jose's Notary and Multiservice in Reading with guns waving, Abreu was ready with his gun loaded and fired the first shot. The men ran away.
Now police are saying that Abreu may have stopped a rash of robberies in Reading over the past week.
Joel Salame, 30, and Dionicio Torres, 24, were arrested after allegedly fleeing Abreu’s notary shop Monday. Though Salame and Torres are only charged with one robbery, police expect to charge the two men with at least eight robberies, most of which occurred from Aug. 24 to Aug. 30 in Reading.
Abreu was tipped off that the men were surveying his business in order to rob it when they walked in Friday wearing glasses with no lenses, wigs and matching uniforms, he told the Reading Eagle.
On Monday the two men came back to the shop. One stayed outside while the other entered the store through two unlocked doors and pointed a handgun at Abreu. Abreu fired his .38-caliber revolver at the man but missed, shooting the wall.
Witnesses pointed to where the men ran and police arrested Salame and Torres soon after.
Aside from Monday’s robbery attempt, there have been six armed robberies in northwest Reading in the past week.
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