A brave young woman was filmed beating up a robber armed with a baseball bat as she tried to defend her father, a liquor store manager.
The unidentified eight-year-old girl immediately sprang into action and grabbed the aluminum bat at Big Discount Liquors in Maplewood, Minnesota, on Saturday night while her father was working the counter.
She was seen punching the suspect, who has since been identified as Conchobhar Morrell, 37, of St. Paul, while his father wrestled with him on the ground.
“I’m so proud of her, she’s so strong,” said the girl’s father, Leo. He told CBS Newsand added that he did not realize his daughter was trying to help him until he saw the surveillance footage.
“When I saw the video I didn’t expect him to do that. I expected to see a little girl crying and screaming.”
A young woman was caught on surveillance footage beating a robber with a baseball bat at her father’s liquor store.
The girl’s father, Leo, said he was “proud” of his little girl, as he showed off the aluminum bat she used.
He said he was getting ready to close the store around 9:30 p.m. Saturday when Morrell came in and wandered around the store.
He grabbed a bottle of liquor and took it to the cash register. according to the Star Tribune.
Morrell was then captured on surveillance footage wearing an Amazon uniform, reaching into his pocket and placing a realistic-looking BB gun on the counter.
“He (Morrell) put the gun on the table, asked me to give him all the money and everything in the cash register,” Leo said. “I said, ‘Yes, I’ll give you everything.'”
He said he tried to reason with the apparently armed robber and told him he could keep all the money in the cash register as long as his daughter, who was behind the counter with him, was safe.
‘I tried to talk to him and say, “I have my daughter here. Can you put the gun down and get away from her? I’ll give you everything, I’ll take everything to you.”
“It’s money, I don’t care, I only care about his safety,” Leo explained.
But Morrell grabbed the gun and walked behind the counter, gun in hand.
The suspect, Conchobhar Morrell, 37, of St. Paul, was caught on surveillance video reaching into his pocket and pulling out a realistic-looking BB gun.
Although Leo said he tried to reason with the armed robber and offered him all the money, Morrell walked behind the counter with the gun in his hand.
Leo immediately tried to fight him, punching him and knocking him to the ground.
“I’m a father and I’m not going to allow that to happen,” he explained.
But just seconds later, her young daughter was seen on surveillance footage with a bat in her hand.
He punched the suspect, still on the ground, several times before fleeing.
Leo eventually managed to wrestle the gun away from Morrell, who fled the scene without his money or weapon, according to the Star Tribune.
Police saw him shortly afterward with a scratch under one eye and blood on his lips, walking a few hundred feet north of the store.
Morrell is now charged with attempted first-degree aggravated robbery and is being held in jail on $40,000 bail ahead of his court hearing on Friday.
Morrell initially resisted arrest but eventually surrendered to police, police say.
However, he denied being in the store and said he was only in the area to visit a nearby tobacco shop.
Morrell also allegedly claimed that his facial injuries were from a fight two days earlier and must have reopened.
An Amazon spokesperson said Morrell was a delivery associate for a third-party delivery service that delivered packages for Amazon.
He will be “dismissed immediately,” the spokesman said.
Morrell is now charged with attempted first-degree aggravated robbery and is being held in jail on $40,000 bail ahead of his court hearing on Friday.
He had previously been convicted of first-degree robbery in Minnesota in 2004.