Calgary convenience store clerk fights off assault by pair of robbers

Store clerk recounts stopping armed robbery Sonny, an A Plus 1 convenience store employee, discusses his actions during a recent robbery attempt. Kathy Le reports.

The owner of a store in southeast Calgary says his overnight staffer is a ‘hero’ after his quick thinking led to the arrest of two people who robbed the business earlier this month.

The whole ordeal, that took place on August 17, was captured on camera.

Sunny, the overnight employee, was the only one inside the A Plus One Convenience Store in Willow Park when two assailants, armed with a crowbar and a pickax, entered.

“Right away he asked me, ‘get down, get down, you are under robbery’ or something like that. Then he came like that very quickly.”

He says the suspect came at him where he was standing behind the counter while the other suspect began to rifle through the cabinet holding the store’s stock of cigarettes.

The first suspect continued to threaten Sunny, keeping him trapped in the corner behind the desk.

That’s when Sunny began to fight back and managed to pull the mask of the intruder.

“Maybe if I take off the mask, I think, maybe his face would be seen by my camera everywhere. So maybe he’s a little bit scared of the camera.”

He managed to get free from the robber and run outside where he attempted to block the door with a metal bench.

The suspects smashed their way out of the shop but Sunny, along with another employee from another store, managed to capture one of the suspects and hold him there until police arrived.

The second suspect, a woman, was arrested a few days later at a nearby home.

Two weeks later, the owner of the store say they’ve had to make a number of repairs, including replacing the glass in the front doors.

Asif Mohamed says Sunny was given some time off and a bonus because of his quick work.

“He’s a hero you know, because he caught the robber and didn’t get hurt. The most important thing is nothing happened to him.”

He says his staff is trained for robbers and told not to resist and should escape to safety as soon as possible.

“We say if a robber comes in, we say ‘take whatever you guys want here, take whole store, we don’t care’. Because I care about my employees.”

Arthur Bennie, 35, and Natalie Elashuk, 25, have been charged with robbery and assault with a weapon.

Mohamed says he is increasing security for the building and connecting a monitoring system for all four of his stores.

(With files from Kathy Le)