WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Theo Gottshalk was taken to the floor of a busy McDonald’s by a taser after the machete-wielding teen had earlier threatened to chop a youngster’s arm off in a robbery
Footage of the moment a machete-wielding teen robber being arrested after entering a busy McDonald’s has been released as police tasered him to the floor. Theo Gottshalk, 19, had threatened to “chop” a teenager’s arm unless he handed over his phone during a terrifying robbery just minutes earlier.
He then fled with the youngster’s phone, bracelet and chain following the mugging in Woolpack Lane, Nottingham, at around midday on September 9 last year.
Police launched a major manhunt and just two weeks later, on October 23 last year, Gottshalk was recognised on a Nottingham bus and reported to the police.
Officers followed him into McDonald’s in Clumber Street, where he violently resisted arrest as he desperately tried to escape.
Dramatic bodycam footage shows Gottshalk wrestling with four cops before losing his shirt and making a dash for the door.
But an officer fired a Taser at him, causing a large 3ft-long machete to tumble from his trousers and fall to the ground.
The distinctive red-handled weapon matched the description previously given by his victim. Cops also discovered several deal bags of cannabis Gottshalk was carrying at the time.
Detectives were then able to match clothing seized from him to CCTV footage of the robbery.
Gottshalk, now 20, admitted robbery, possessing a knife in a public place and possession of cannabis with intent to supply.
He also admitted two further robberies in Birmingham, one on September 25, 2023, and another on September 12, 2024.
Gottshalk also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm after he was caught with a converted blank-firing pistol in Birmingham in November 2023.
Appearing at Birmingham Crown Court last Friday (October 16), Gottshalk, of Forest Fields, Nottingham, was jailed for 13 years as part of an extended custodial sentence.
Detective Constable Ben Grayson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Theo Gottshalk is a callous and violent criminal who appears to think he can take what he wants when he wants from other people.
“He also thought nothing of putting lives at risk by carrying such a large and potentially lethal weapon in a public place.
“He was this point a danger to the wider public and I am pleased he has now been held to account.”