I think alot of it will depend on how 'professional' they are.
"You are at your local pizzeria for dinner. Two armed males enter and force all the employees and patrons down. They proceed to rob the store and take cash, cell phones, jewelry etc. from the patrons.
BGs have guns but do not fire any shots."
If the two guys working the crowd are masked and aren't speaking to one another, just to the crowd, then they have their timing down, and are looking to get done and out.
I see two guys. What I don't see is who in the crowd is the third party to the crime. Who was there prepping for the robbery for the last 45mins? Which one of the 'patrons' is gonna put a .38 thru the back of my head when I draw my pistol? I also dont know where the getaway driver is. Is he in the car, or near the front door ready to assist if they robbery goes south for the 2 original robbers.
I have to weigh the known against the unknown and its potential outcome. Two armed guys- I'm already outmanned and outgunned. Another guy in the shop in advance, that's potentially three. Who here is that good? Maybe a driver backing up from outside. Not looking good for me.
The op makes no mention of our robbers escorting anyone to the freezer. Long as everyone is in the same room, and our guys are remaining calm, I'm gonna say roll with it untill something changes to make me believe I wont go home if I dont do something.
In the words of the op "After taking cash and valuable BGs run." So we work inside the parameters set up by the op. They run. They're now no longer a threat. Shows over, give your statement to the nice officer.
Now, the flip side is two armed morons burst into the place, shouting, panicky, confused, both giving orders to each other and the patrons. All bad signs. All indicators of two clowns w no plan. Our best hope is that they take the cash, some watches and skate. But, like I said, no plan. If they dont have a plan, they cant orchestrate their actions to dictate the patrons reactions, patrons cant comply correctly because Dumb and Dumber cant articulate what they want the patrons to due, cause they havent rehearsed this before, or enough. So where are we? Still two armed assailants. Not good odds. But they still havent moved anyone anywhere, so we may yet get out w/out any gunfire.
Let's now add that component that I call the "line in the sand". They try to seperate me from my wife and kids. Or the women from the group. Or try to lead everyone into the back room. That for me is a line in the sand. I believe at that point, I may not go home. So, now things will get very convoluted, very fast. But SOMETHING will be done, tools will be employed, training and tactics will be tested, and some luck will be called on. Exactly what happens, how I react would require our op to give quite a bit more detail to the robbery described.
dan