Oct 23, 2007 9:15 pm US/Eastern
Tiny Clerk Fights Off Armed Robber With Axe
Surveillance Video Shows Incredible Act Of Bravery
BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Seen here, standing less than 5-feet tall, Hafize Sahin is holding the axe she used to ward off an armed robber.
CBS
The surveillance video is stunning -- a tiny clerk defending her store from an armed robber by brandishing an axe.
She stands less than 5-feet tall and weighs only 90 pounds, but Hafize Sahin can wield an axe like Paul Bunyan.
"I said get out of here. Get out of here. I don't want you here," Sahin said when asked if she had words with her attacker. "I did fear for my life so I did that and that."
On Tuesday at her workplace, Friendly Quik Mart of Brookhaven on the Montauk Highway, with her dad and step-mom looking on, Hafize demonstrated how she protected herself from a robber, who aimed a gun at her head, and threatened to pull the trigger. Police say the entire episode was caught on surveillance tape.
"Here is a handgun, he's demanding money, and now she's pulling out the axe," said Det. Lt. Edward Kelly of the Suffolk County Police Department. "She's chasing him out of the store."
Sahin's coworker, Kevin Klein, was stunned by her reaction.
"She was just hysterical crying, but she beat the guy off," Klein said. "The guy ran out. He was about 6-feet-2!"
Added Hafize: "I did the best I could."
Hafize is a co-owner of the store and a recent bride. She wants to have children, and would not hesitate again to pick up that axe.
Police are still searching for the robber.
While they say Hafize was remarkably brave, they also say she was lucky.
The police do not recommend putting up a fight against an armed robber.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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