Store Owner Fends Off Shotgun-Wielding Robber With A Slipper [Video]

Every convenience store clerk has to face the possibility of an armed burglar bursting into the establishment and holding the place up at gunpoint. But one amazingly confident store owner had no problem fighting off a shotgun-wielding robber, even though the only thing he had to defend himself was a slipper.

According to the Huffington Post, the incident took place at a Citgo station in Staatsburg, New York. Security camera footage shows 58-year-old Amrik Singh facing off with a masked man carrying a shotgun. The robber charged the cash counter with the weapon and demanded money.

As you can see in the video above, Amrik Singh initially cooperated with the robber by filling a bag with cash from the register while the criminal kept the gun trained on him. But soon, the robber made the mistake of lowering the weapon and leaning over the counter. At that moment, the store owner decided to make a move.

“I had [not] planned to do something,” Amrik Singh told the Poughkeepsie Journal. “Something can tell me inside… what to do. I tried to give him money. I don’t know really, what happened.”

While the robber was vulnerable, Amrik Singh grabbed him.

He did not manage to get the shotgun away from him, but as the robber was backing away, the store owner removed his slipper and threw it at the man’s head.

“He’s very close, so something inside me, and maybe I’m crazy, maybe it was God, but something says, ‘Grab him!’ And I grab him and he gets away. I bend down and take off my shoe, like a slipper, and I throw it at his face.”

While the burglar was recovering from a slipper-blow to the face, Amrik Singh rushed him, pushing him out of the store and chasing him out onto the parking lot. The surveillance footage shows the robber fleeing from Singh, shotgun in tow. Amrik Singh returns with the bag of money safely intact.

According to Amrik Singh, things were more dangerous than the cameras depicted. The armed robber did apparently shoot at Singh in the parking lot, aiming for his feet.

“I fell down,” Singh said. “He didn’t get me, but he did shoot.”

The store owner walked away from the confrontation with some minor bruises and scrapes but was otherwise unharmed. He had successfully defended the store using only his slipper. Amrik Singh is a married father of two but claims he was not afraid to stand up to the burglar.

“I figured I’m not scared. I don’t know what happened, but nothing scared for me… With God with me, I’m not scared of nothing. I’m not a hero… I don’t want to be a hero.”

Despite his bravery, Amrik Singh was so shaken up by the robbery that he had trouble contacting the police immediately after. Luckily, an off-duty police officer was driving by the convenience store at the time of the robbery and heard the gunshots. He pulled in and helped Amrik Singh.

The suspect escaped, but local police are now searching for him. They uploaded the above video to YouTube in the hopes of using it to apprehend the robber, who has been described as a thin, white male approximately five feet 10 inches tall. He drove away from the convenience store in a dark vehicle with orange New York license plates.

Anyone with information should call the state police at 845-876-4049.

What would you do in Amrik Singh’s position? Would you resort to throwing a slipper?

[Photo via New York State Police]