Slipper-Tossing Store Owner Fights off Armed Robber

Amrick Singh, owner of a Citgo gas station in Staatsburg, NY, was greeted with a shocking sight on Tuesday when a masked robber walked into his convenience store and raised a shotgun.

Singh’s hands immediately flew to the air as the robber threatened him. The store owner tried to reason with him at first by offering money. But the would-be thief demanded $100 bills, which Singh said he didn’t have. Afterward, the robber tried to remove the coin tray to search under it.

That’s when the action began.

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"God told my body to grab the man as he reached for the tray in the cash register," Singh said to IANS.

"When the gunman jumped back, I threw the slipper and hit him on the nose. I ran and caught him and we were like wrestling,” he said, adding that, "He did not expect an old man to fight him. He ran outside and I chased him. He fired a shot at my feet, but it missed and hit the ground and he drove away."

Singh, a Sikh who immigrated to the U.S. from Doburji in Punjab's Moga district 35 years ago, has owned the station for almost 20 years.

He told IANS that he had no pre-determined strategy to deal with an armed robber, but he intends to be prepared should another appear.

"I am a US citizen and I am going to apply for a gun license," Singh said, adding that he hopes never to have to use it.

"I'm not really a hero," the 59-year-old Singh said, "and I would not want to be a hero. I am just a working man."