Neil Patel hired armed agents to patrol his gas station three weeks ago, and now he has a daily armed presence nightly in Philadelphia.
The owner of a North Philadelphia gas station says he took security measures into his own hands to keep his customers and employees safe.
"We're PA State Agents and we're not security. Basically, what we do is security details when the public calls upon us when the police can't be there," explained PA State Agent Andre Boyer."The first week there was tension from the public seeing someone with an AR shotgun walking around," said Boyer, who said some people asked,"Why are you here? Are we in Beirut?"Customer Jack Rock said he was okay with their presence.
Patel owns 22 gas stations in the region, 12 of them are in Philadelphia. He says the crime targeting customers and his store and employees is rampant. Patel says police don't respond in a timely manner so he had to come up with a better approach to protect lives and his livelihood.
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