BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA) – A Bradenton bartender is recovering after a scary encounter with a carjacker. The incident happened Friday around 11:40 a.m.

The suspect told the victim he had a  gun and forced her to give up her car. It happened at the Banana Factory, a favorite spot for locals who call each other “family.”

Customers take it personally when something happens to one of their own. “Tammy came running into the bar screaming hysterically, ‘My car’s been stolen; my car’s been stolen,'” Charlie Miller, 61, recalled.

Tammy Petroff-Hall is a Banana Factory bartender.

Miller jumped from his bar stool and got into his 1989 Lincoln Town Car, giving chase.

“All the time, I had my finger on my horn. So all the time anybody hearing anything, they were hearing this …I’m chasing this guy,” Miller said. “We were all over … This side of 41; that side of 41.”

The chase ended in a driveway. Miller tackled Hollloway, pinning him to the ground.

“He said, ‘Please don’t turn me in. Please don’t; just let me go.’ I said, ‘Sorry, there’s just too many accidents, too many cars involved and property damage. I can’t just let you go,'” Miller said.

Miller had left his cell phone behind at the bar so a neighbor called 911. “At the time, it felt like the right thing to do; not to be a hero, not to, but just to stop the mayhem,” Miller said.

He said deputies shook his hand and thanked him.

Petroff-Hall’s car is a mess with damage on both sides.

Manatee County deputies said 26-year-old Nicholas Holloway is the man who took Petroff-Hall’s car. Holloway is charged with carjacking.

Petroff-Hall took a day off from work. Her husband said she was very shook up by this incident.