Deli customer in Connecticut uses beer bottle to break up armed robbery

STRATFORD, Ct. (WABC) -- Stratford police say a customer inside a convenience store was shot and injured while intervening in an armed robbery.

Police say the suspect entered the store with a handgun on Saturday night and demanded money from the clerk.

"And I went like this, you know," said Stratford resident Jose Pizarro. ('You pointed to the bottle.') "To the bottle, I said, 'Hit 'em with the bottle.'"

And without hesitation a fellow customer inside the Dolly Deli in Stratford Saturday night grabbed Pizarro's empty bottle of Corona beer.

The startled robber fell to the ground, and a fight ensued. He squezed off one shot that grazed the customer and continued through a store shelf. The gunman then ran away, leaving his semi-automatic weapon behind.

"He had a bag in one hand and the gun in the other. And he pointed and said you, load the money in the bag right now, and we start laughing because we thought it was somebody with a joke, you know," said Pizarro.

The armed robber is still on the loose, and that's a big reason why the deli owner and the injured bottle-swinging customer did not want to talk on-camera.

"We wouldn't recommend getting involved at all. It just happened for this particular case it worked, but again, why put yourself in danger when you really don't have to," said Stratford Police Sgt. Jamie Rivera.

Back at the deli, the owner did tell us this was his first robbery after 20 years in business.

As for the uninjured Jose Pizarro, he was playing the lottery when the gunman entered the store. He's thankful he wasn't hurt.

"I consider myself very lucky, yes. ('Keep playing the lottery, right?'( "Ok, yes, yes," he said.