Passenger wrestled gun off robber

A bus passenger who tackled armed robbers has been praised for his selfless actions.

Anthony Cardona, 45, is recovering from a serious head injury inflicted on him when he was struck with a gun when two men tried to rob a bus in Drogheda, Co Louth.

Despite his ordeal, he said he forgives his attackers and hopes they reflect on their actions.

Mr Cardona was getting off the bus, operated by Matthews.ie, when he was hit on the back of his head with what he now believes was a handgun.

“On the last step as I got off the bus I felt something very hard hitting my head and all of a sudden there was this horrible noise in my ear like a whistle thing and I just collapsed. I went down. I thought what was happening?

“I heard my father’s voice saying ‘get up and defend yourself, this is it’.” His father, also Anthony, passed away in 2000.

He looked up. “I saw a guy coming with a baton. As I got up I realised there was a metal taste in my mouth and I saw blood [from the head wound].

“He was coming towards me and I saw the baton coming in front of my face. I grabbed the baton off him and I started to protect myself.

“I thought if I moved in closer to him it would reduce the risk of me getting struck again.

“He was starting to try and run away and I grabbed his jacket and mask and he unzipped it and ran off. I felt a mobile phone and I grabbed it too.”

Next Mr Cardona heard the sound of glass breaking.

“I saw the other guy with the gun coming out through the glass door of the bus which he had just broken.”

Mr Cardona was terrified. “I thought if that guy manages to come down with the gun someone could get seriously injured. That was the moment I knew I had to try and get that gun off him. I don’t know how I did it but I managed to disarm him. I thought this is one less weapon in the world.

“When I disarmed him he still tried to attack me and I used the baton to defend myself. He threatened to find me and kill me. I tried to take off his mask but my legs were wobbling so much and he ran away then.”

Mr Cardona was afraid there could be accomplices waiting nearby so he hid in a nearby alley.

Gardaí are following a definite line of enquiry into the incident and said they were appreciative of the efforts made by the passenger who was “a public spirited person.”

The mayor of Drogheda, Paul Bell, said he commended Mr Cardona’s actions saying he had confronted “what at best could be described as absolute cowards preying on citizens going about their everyday business.”

In a statement Matthews.ie managing director Paddy Matthews praised both the passenger and the driver for “the heroic and selfless way in which they acted throughout the incident, which is being investigated by the gardaí”.