Carson City shop owner calm under fire

Carson Coffee owner Curt Spradley's reaction Friday morning when a masked man pointed a gun at him was not what one would expect.

"He picked the gun up and laid it right into my face almost, and said 'Do you want to die?'" recalled the 76-year-old Korean War veteran. "And for lack of a better answer I said, 'No, but do you want a cup of coffee?'"

Spradley and his 19-year-old clerk were working the kiosk in the Frontier Shopping Center when the man, wearing a clear face mask with features painted on it entered the small shop and approached the counter.

Spradley said he was surprised by the mask and chuckled a bit.

But when the man pulled what Spradley recognized as a a snub-nosed .38 cal. handgun from a plastic grocery bag, he knew this was not a joke.

"Do you want to die?" the intruder repeated as he walked around the counter and up to Spradley.

"He asked me that about a half dozen times and I just kept telling him no. He was mumbling, and I couldn't really understand much of what he was saying except do you want to die," Spradley said.

Then a shot rang out, ricocheting off the desk and grazing Spradley's foot.

Spradley said his memory is fuzzy at this point, but his employee who came out front to investigate the noise said afterward that even after the shot was fired, Spradley continued to talk to the gunman in a calm tone.

"I do not remember, but my young lady said 'When he pointed in your face, you reached up with your hand and moved the muzzle of the gun aside.'"

Detective Craig Lowe said it was Spradley's action of moving the gun that saved his life when the second shot rang out. The bullet instead pierced the shop's telephone and modem.

As Spradley turned away, his ears ringing from the gunshots, the man ran outside, hopped onto a black and red BMX-type bicycle and rode off southbound on Carson Street.

The gunman is a white male adult described as between 5-feet-10-inches and 6-feet tall, weighing between 150 and 170 pounds. He had blue eyes and was wearing blue jeans and a checkered coat with the primary color being tan.

Spradley, a pilot and former president and CEO of the Tasty Freeze Company's Pacific Region, said his year's flying had trained him to remain calm.

"My wife said I have nerves of steel," he said.

Secret Witness is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the robber. To be eligible for the reward anonymous tips can be made at 322-4900. Detective Craig Lowe can be reached at 775-887-2020 ext. 41400.

- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftonorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.