Moment machete-wielding teenage robber is Tasered to the floor by police in a busy McDonald's as he is jailed for 13 years

Published: 08:17 EDT, 21 October 2026 | Updated: 08:19 EDT, 21 October 2026 A 19-year-old robber wielding a three-foot-long machete was Tasered to the floor by police in a busy McDonald's after trying to escape arrest. Police bodycam footage captured the moment police were mid-arrest when Theo Gottshalk decided to run away through the crowded McDonald's in Clumber Street, Nottingham, while carrying the huge bladed weapon. The teenager had been stopped by police after he threatened to 'chop' a teenager's arm unless he handed over his phone during a terrifying robbery on September 9 last year. He was jailed for 13 years as part of an extended custodial sentence last Friday at Birmingham Crown Court, after being found guilty of robbery, possessing a knife in a public place and possession of cannabis with intent to supply. Gottshalk, now aged 20, also admitted two further robberies in Birmingham - one on September 25, 2023, and another on September 12, 2024. He also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm, after he was caught with a converted blank-firing pistol in Birmingham in November 2023. Police bodycam footage captured the moment Gottshalk was Tasered to the floor by police in a busy McDonald's He was carrying a three-foot-long machete, which fell from his pocket as he fell to the floor Gottshalk had threatened to 'chop' a teenager's arm unless he handed over his phone in a terrifying robbery on September 9 at around midday last year.He then fled with the youngster's phone, bracelet and chain following the mugging in Woolpack Lane, Nottingham. Police launched a manhunt and six weeks later, on October 23, Gottshalk was recognised on a Nottingham bus and reported to police. Officers followed him into a McDonald's in Clumber Street, where he violently resisted arrest as he desperately tried to escape. The dramatic bodycam footage of Gottshalk's arrest inside a busy McDonald's showed the moment four police officers wrestled with the teen, before one shouted: 'I've got a Taser, stop fighting!' After losing his shirt and making a dash for the door, an officer fired a Taser at Gottshalk, causing a large 3ft-long machete to tumble from his trousers. The distinctive red-handled weapon matched the description previously given by his victim. Police also discovered several deal bags of cannabis that Gottshalk was carrying.Detectives then matched clothing seized from him to CCTV footage of the robbery. Gottshalk, of Forest Fields, Nottingham, was jailed last Friday, October 16, 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 at this point a danger to the wider public and I am pleased he has now been held to account.'