Drizzt
January 23, 2003, 07:01 PM
Toronto store owner fights off armed robbers
Police say a military veteran who fought off three bandits trying to rob his Toronto convenience store is lucky to have escaped serious injury.
During the dramatic struggle, which was caught on an in-store video camera, the storekeeper also breaks a golf club over the head of one robber pointing a shotgun at his body.
Late Monday night, the three men entered the convenience store in Toronto's east end. One man was armed with a pump-action shotgun. He demanded that the storekeeper open the cash register.
Lee Bang Ju, a 57-year-old South Korean military veteran who says he fought in the Vietnam War, began to use his fists to push the gun away, and then grabbed the golf club.
A fight then ensued with the storekeeper eventually getting pummeled by the three larger suspects.
After the beating Ju, who also has training in Tae Kwon Do, grabbed the golf club again and chased the men out of the store, smashing the rear window of the getaway car.
Ju, who told CFTO he came to Canada with his family seven years ago, sustained only minor injuries.
"The store owner is as brave as a lion," said Det. Sgt. Wilf Townley of the Toronto police hold-up squad, who added that even veteran police marveled at Lee's tenacious resistance. However, he cautions others against such action.
"We would not advise other storekeepers to take these people on at all," Townley said. "Because it's not worth it. No life is worth a million dollars, never mind the few paltry dollars they would get from robbing a store like this."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1043279817359_50/?hub=TopStories
Police say a military veteran who fought off three bandits trying to rob his Toronto convenience store is lucky to have escaped serious injury.
During the dramatic struggle, which was caught on an in-store video camera, the storekeeper also breaks a golf club over the head of one robber pointing a shotgun at his body.
Late Monday night, the three men entered the convenience store in Toronto's east end. One man was armed with a pump-action shotgun. He demanded that the storekeeper open the cash register.
Lee Bang Ju, a 57-year-old South Korean military veteran who says he fought in the Vietnam War, began to use his fists to push the gun away, and then grabbed the golf club.
A fight then ensued with the storekeeper eventually getting pummeled by the three larger suspects.
After the beating Ju, who also has training in Tae Kwon Do, grabbed the golf club again and chased the men out of the store, smashing the rear window of the getaway car.
Ju, who told CFTO he came to Canada with his family seven years ago, sustained only minor injuries.
"The store owner is as brave as a lion," said Det. Sgt. Wilf Townley of the Toronto police hold-up squad, who added that even veteran police marveled at Lee's tenacious resistance. However, he cautions others against such action.
"We would not advise other storekeepers to take these people on at all," Townley said. "Because it's not worth it. No life is worth a million dollars, never mind the few paltry dollars they would get from robbing a store like this."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1043279817359_50/?hub=TopStories