If a Marine sees you steal someone’s cell phone, be prepared to hit the ground running.

Pfc. Blayne Edwards, Pvt. Alex Berezansky and Pfc. Ryan Delaca were chilling at shopping mall in their dress blues nearby Detroit when they witnessed a trio of teenagers sprint out of a store. A woman said they had stolen her cell phone. The young Marines immediately leapt into action.

From Task and Purpose:

“I didn’t know what was stolen or what was going on,” Delaca told Task & Purpose. “I just wanted to make sure they were caught. Especially around the holidays, people shouldn’t have to deal with theft.”

The Marines pursued the suspects to a parking lot 500 yards from where the chase began, before two of the would-be thieves gave up. The third made it a little farther, before being stopped by a police officer nearby, reports Marine Corps Times.

Police found at least three other cellphones on the suspects that were believed to be stolen.

After the chase, Edwards asked: “Do you really think you can outrun three Marines?”

Dress blues aren’t exactly built for sprinting, but uniforms and shoes don’t matter in the heat of the moment. Staff Sgt. Randal Nelson told the Marine Corps Times that the swift response of these three Marines shows that they are prepared to take on an enemy at a moment’s notice regardless of their preparedness.

“We stress to these guys to be prepared for any situation, especially in a day and age when our enemy isn’t always wearing a uniform,” Nelson said. “Whether it is a small petty theft or something on a bigger scale, we make sure their head is already on a swivel and they are prepared for any situation.”

The three young men are on temporary recruiting duty. Edwards is training to become a low altitude air defense gunner and Berezanksky as a motor transportation operator. Deluca is already stationed at Camp Lejeune as a machine gunner.