Unwilling victims.

Three robbers in San Francisco ran into back-to-back reluctant victims on June 27. Just after 3:30 a.m., the robbers, one of them armed with a shotgun, stopped a man to rob him. The robbery victim, however, didn't initially see the shotgun, and he lashed out at the robbers with his flashlight.

When he did see the shotgun, he took advantage of a brief lull in the fracas to flee, reported CBS 5. From a distance away, the victim then had the unusual vantage point of watching as his would-be muggers tried to rob more victims and received street justice instead.

As he watched, the three robbers stopped a couple and tried to grab a backpack from them. The man carrying the backpack pulled a pistol and shot all three robbers, sending them running for their lives. Two were arrested nearby; one turned himself into a police station in order to get medical aid. They were each charged with two counts of robbery.

The shooter has not yet been identified. Police inspector John Peterson told the San Francisco Chronicle that the police "would like to talk to [the] victim to hear the rest of the story." Since San Francisco is one of the most rabidly anti-gun cities in the United States and since the robbery victim would likely spend years in prison for defending himself, it's unlikely he'll come forward.