Armed man who helped stop Anchorage mall robbery: ‘I carry so I’m ready’

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The gun-carrying man who police say helped detain an armed-robbery suspect at the Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall on Sunday says it was the first time he ever needed to draw his gun in public.

Matthew Willhite, 22, a chef at Pizza Athena in Palmer, said his involvement in 18-year-old Yan Bangout’s arrest began as an ordinary shopping trip to the mall’s Buckle clothing store.

“I was with my girlfriend and her family,” Willhite said. “Her little brother wanted to get some new shirts at Buckle.”

That’s when Bangout got into a scuffle with security guards after trying to steal $1,200 in goods from the store. He then reached for a weapon hidden in his waistband, police said.

“As we walked up, I saw security wrestling with the suspect, and I went up to see if they needed any help,” Willhite said. “One security officer is telling people to back away and suddenly he’s yelling, ‘Gun, gun, gun!’”

Willhite said he immediately drew his own handgun -- a Para-Ordnance 1911 .45-caliber ACP modeled on the popular M1911 military pistol -- and aimed it at Bangout, at “an angle where he could see me, but nobody else was going to get hurt.”

“I yelled that I had a gun and he should drop it, and he eventually saw (the .45),” Willhite said. “Once he dropped the gun, the security officer handed me the gun, so I kicked it behind me and kept (my gun) on him until the security officers put handcuffs on him.”

Willhite emphasized that his fields of fire were clear of unintended targets had he been forced to shoot, with the store’s front gate already closed.