St. Louis woman stops armed robbery by refusing to hand over bag Woman stops armed robbery by saying no

At 8:30 p.m. Monday, Missouri state lobbyist Lynne Schlosser stopped at the door of her building on North 13 Street and found herself suddenly facing a teenage gunman pointing a gun at her head.

The teen, accompanied by a small group, demanded her bag.

Schlosser refused.

"I don't even know why I said no," she said. "I've been taught for years that if you're ever approached you just give them what they want and for some reason, there was something about the situation that seemed weird to me."

After she refused to hand over her bag, Schlosser said the gun was pointed at her head, at which point she escaped through a security door at her building.

The gunman is then seen turning and running off with his accomplices.

Schlosser then called 911, but couldn't reach an operator.

"I got a recording," she said. "To be honest I can't tell you the whole thing. It said something about 'you can leave a message' and I hung up and I was incredibly distraught."

When officers finally came, Schlosser said they were reluctant to believe her story until they saw the surveillance video. The incident left Schlosser shaken; not only over the robbery, but the experience of failing to get help when she needed it.

"It was very disheartening for me and for me to feel that the police are not going to believe a law abiding citizen that reports a violent crime, then the city has a lot more problems than I thought it did."

She said police told her the reported incident was a first for them.

Police said they have arrested three juveniles in connection with the crime.

As for the 911 calls going unanswered, a city hall spokesman says there is no voice mail in the 911 system but when there are a lot of calls at once, callers can be put on hold.