Robbery victim: 'I was picturing myself in a pool of blood'

Brown, president and CEO of Raleigh Metal Recycling, was at his business at about 5 a.m. Friday when two men approached him.

One had a gun.

They forced him into his office. They wanted access to a room where the company safe was.

Brown told the men he didn't have a key to that door.

“You will see I get kicked,” he said Tuesday while looking at surveillance video of the encounter. “I get hit in the head at least once. All I knew was that they were not going to get their money.”

Brown thought the cameras were recording his final moments.

“I thought I was going to be dead,” he said. “I was picturing myself in a pool of blood.”

The robbers left several minutes later with Brown’s wallet and cell phone.

Brown didn’t recognize one of the men who didn’t wear a mask, but he was familiar with the uniforms they wore – his company's uniforms.

The business owner believes a current or former employee may have helped the men.

"That person could've been on the payroll when I signed paychecks on Friday,” he said. “It pissed me off that I could have been signing paychecks for someone that tried to have me killed."

Security measures have changed at the Garner Road business since the incident. No employees handle the safe or money. Those duties are now overseen by an armored car service.

Brown is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the robbery.