They refused to be victims.
The physical confrontation was caught on surveillance video.
Now, police in Brooklyn are looking for the shoplifter.
Mandy Wang says she was fed-up.
A man came into her store and started stuffing his pockets, and Mandy saw everything on the store's surveillance camera.
When he tried to leave without paying, she and her husband blocked the door.
"He say, 'I don't steal', 'I know you steal, right?'" Mandy Wang said.
Mandy says the man insisted he hadn't stolen anything.
If that's true, Mandy told him, then wait for the police, and you can explain that to them.
"You say you don't steal? Okay, just wait policeman coming," Mandy Wang said.
With that, he shoved her husband aside and then it was pandemonium.
As he struggled to get out, Mandy told him-off.
She said, "You have no right to steal from me. You can't leave, you're not going anywhere!"
When that didn't work, she used her tiny fists. Mandy, who is 5'3", 120 pounds, started bashing him over and over, on his chest, his arms, and even his face.
Finally, the husband and wife tag-team could no longer hold him back. The shoplifter broke-free and took-off down the street.
In his pockets, Mandy said, was a bottle of shampoo and two bars of soap.
"I'm so angry, here. So angry," Mandy Wang said.
She admits she could have been hurt, but Mandy says she just couldn't help herself.
She's an immigrant from mainland China struggling to make it on the streets of Brooklyn.
Police released the surveillance video hoping somebody recognizes the suspect, although he's not likely to strike again, at least not there.
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