Hearing screams, a man grabbed a baseball bat and looked around to see what had caused a colleague to flee their shop.
That's when he saw Nathan Geoffrey Johnson wearing a motorbike helmet and holding what appeared to be a gun.
"Don't move or I will shoot you," Johnson told the man.
The man instead rushed at Johnson, who escaped on a stolen motorbike after being chased down the street.
"This (man) ... has what you call cojones," Judge Ian Dearden said in Brisbane District Court on Friday.
"(The man showed) extraordinary courage in the face of what he would not have known was a gel blaster."
The incident was among the offences Johnson committed over a two-week period that ended when he crashed the motorbike while on drugs following a police pursuit.
Johnson had stolen the motorcycle before robbing a Subway store in Brisbane's north in June 2022 wearing the helmet and armed with a broken light tube.
The next week Johnson again wore a helmet but this time had a gel blaster "pretending to be armed with a handgun" when he committed more offences in Brisbane's north.
He robbed and threatened to shoot a man who had parked by the side of a street, taking his mobile phone before forcing two good Samaritans to back off.
Later that day Johnson attempted to rob a tobacconist shop.
He pointed the gel blaster at a 33-year-old female employee who screamed and ran out thinking it was a gun, prompting the baseball bat confrontation.
"I have got no doubt each of them would have been terrified by the experiences," Judge Dearden said of Johnson's victims.
The next day police attempted to intercept Johnson who sped away on the motorbike.
He evaded police over 30km travelling at high speed through traffic, at one stage entering a road on the wrong side before crashing and fleeing on foot.
When apprehended by police, Johnson - who has epilepsy - began convulsing and became unresponsive.
He was taken to hospital and tested positive for both amphetamine and methamphetamine.
Johnson, 33, had a significant criminal and traffic history and was on probation at the time.
He had an incredibly disadvantaged upbringing and been introduced to drugs at a young age, the court heard.
A psychologist report said Johnson had a deteriorating mental state which contributed to him bingeing on amphetamines during his offending.
Diagnosed with bipolar and severe substance abuse disorder, Johnson suffers from complex trauma, court was told.
The father of three pleaded guilty to offences including two counts of armed robbery, before Judge Dearden noted one of the children was present in court.
"That relationship with a dad and his children is precious but ... you've got to find a way to change your life," he told Johnson who wiped away tears.
Johnson was sentenced to six years in jail and will be eligible for parole in January.
He was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
