Inside R U Game, there's no shortage of video games and systems old and new.
Plus, there's a staff member on hand, including Brandon Blue-Eyes, at the ready to help you bring what you want home.
"We have all types of people that come in here, and we will lower prices," he said. "We will make deals for people to afford these consoles if they can't afford the price on them."
But on September 4, in broad daylight, Brandon found himself in a scary situation.
Ring video from inside the store captures everything. Brandon helping a seeming customer find a PlayStation controller at first, then a Playstation system.
"As I was grabbing it and I was bagging up and ringing him up, he said, 'Put it on the counter'. When I turned around, and when he indicated to put it on the counter, he reached into his pocket and pulled out like a handle type weapon. So I was pretty sure it was a gun, but I didn't want to risk it, so I just handed him the console, and then he just walked out," Brandon recalled.
A different angle shows the aftermath: Brandon calls his manager.
"Hey Sean. I think I just got robbed by a guy with a gun," you can hear him say in that video.
Then, on September 20, 16 days later, at the same time of day, Brandon found himself in the same situation.
"I told him that he wasn't allowed to be in here with the mask, and so he shouted that he didn't give explicits. He was jumping around, and he was more aggressive. And I was around the counter at the time he was over there, so I just took off and went to another store, Five Guys over there to call the police," Brandon said.
The second go around, the thief took off with a PlayStation 5.
Shane Butcher, the store owner, says the cameras inside the store were down that day, but video from a nearby Liquor Store caught the thief walking across the busy parking lot with the PlayStation in hand.
"We're 100% sure we knew who it was, and since they have been booked before, if they would have been on it the first time, they would probably be already being in jail by now, and not out there trying to rob other stores," Butcher says.
ABC Action News reached out to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. In a statement, they told us
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is actively investigating this as a theft and are currently working to identify the suspect.
We've had multiple individuals with HCSO respond to the R.U Game Store in reference to this investigation, including, two deputies, a detective, and a sergeant. Additionally, we have increased presence in that area to ensure the safety of the community and businesses in the area.
This is the information we can provide at present.
"It's super frustrating, especially because the first time they got a clear fingerprint at the time, we were 70% sure we knew who it was. Now we're 100% sure we knew who it was, and since they have been booked before, if they would have been on it the first time, they would probably be already be in jail by now," said Butcher.
Butcher says they've noticed more deputies in the plaza and even dropping into his business over the last couple of days, but they're not confidant it's enough to keep the thief from returning.
"If he comes back, the Sheriff's [Office] actually gave us the go-ahead," Butcher said. "This is Florida. It's a Stand Your Ground state and employees in a business have a right to defend themselves and protect themselves so they can get home to their families."
The employees at R.U. Game are now undergoing training to protect themselves.
"He's a good-hearted person and but now he's a good-hearted person with some firearms training," Butcher said of Brandon. "So we will not be letting this happen again. And I told the Sheriff's, 'You need to jump on this, because if he comes back again, it's not going to be the same, and you might have a mess to clean up, and it's going to be on you because you didn't get on it the first place after it happened."
Brandon says he's begun his training.
"I'm not a violent person," he said. "I went to the gun range and shot my first gun multiple times. And you know, it's very upsetting. When I went there, it wasn't for fun. Everyone else was shooting it for fun, testing out the new guns. And for me, it was like, 'Oh, wow, I gotta learn how to do this to protect myself.'"
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