Store owner fights back

  Eyewitness News

(Brooklyn - WABC, November 17, 2007) (WABC) -- A would-be armed robber is in police custody after a store owner in Brooklyn decided to fight back.

It happened on Sutter Avenue.

Eyewitness News reporter Lauren DeFranco has details from East New York, Brooklyn.

It is still an active scene as police investigation is going on Saturday night at the bodega on Sutter Avenue.

We are told by police this would-be robber walked into the store demanding cash, and the owner turned the tables on the intruder and beat him with a bat.

By all accounts it was a frenetic scene Saturday afternoon when the badly bruised robbery suspect was carried out on a stretcher.

According to witnesses, the suspect, armed with a gun, entered the store and the owner fought back.

A shot was fired into the air and police say workers inside the bodega beat the intruder with a bat. The owner apparently had closed the gate trapping the robber inside.

"They have a right to defend themselves. That is all I can think about. Nobody likes to be robbed," said witness Jorge Lopez. "They work hard to make their money and for somebody to come like that& they have a right to defend themselves."

Guzman's uncle owns the store.

"It was not a good plan, but after it was done, what can you do? See, my uncle put down the gate, so the workers were inside with a guy with the gun," said Guzman. "What are they supposed to do?"

The police have not identified this robbery suspect but we are told he is in police custody Saturday night.

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