Gun-wielding crook holds up convenience store, but clerk fights back while handing over cash. Crook fires shots — and he miraculously misses

One could say without too much disagreement that Valins Cesar is a fortunate man.

Particularly after a gunman fired shots while Cesar stood just feet away during a robbery Sunday morning at the Bi-Low Market in Delray Beach, Florida, where he works.

“He could’ve shot me!” the convenience store clerk told WPBF-TV following the terrifying incident. “He could’ve shot me!”

Image source: YouTube screenshot

What went down?

After Cesar opened the store, a man he identified as a regular customer walked in around 7 a.m., the station said.

“When he usually comes, he says, ‘Hey, brother, how you doing?’ And we would make a joke and stuff,” Cesar recalled to WPBF.

But the familiar customer was not in a laughing mood this time — and Cesar told the station the man walked around the counter, pulled out a gun, and pointed it at Cesar’s head.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

“He says, ‘Open the register. Give me the money,’” Cesar recounted to WPBF. “I’m like, ‘OK. That’s what you want.’ And I open the register and give him the money.”

Surveillance video captured the moment Cesar held the wad of cash and dropped it the crook's bag — as well as the life-and-death decision Cesar made next.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Video shows Cesar throwing a fast punch when the gunman appeared to be looking away, and then a struggle broke out.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Cesar shoved the gunman backward and through the door that separates the area behind the counter from the rest of the store.

As the gunman stumbled to the floor, he fired a shot into the ceiling, the station said, adding that seconds later the gunman fired another shot — and this bullet flew past Cesar and hit a box of cigars.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

What was Cesar thinking?

“I didn’t know the gun was real,” Cesar told WPBF, noting his reasons for deciding to fight the gunman. “When he goes down, the gun went off like boom! That’s when I realized the gun is real.”

Other thoughts went through Cesar's mind as well, the station said — and they were all about his wife and children.

“I was thinking, 'If I was to die, I mean who's gonna help them?'” Cesar recounted to WPBF. “I mean, like, the kids need their father.”

What happened to the suspect?

Police identified the suspect as Brandon Bryant, who was in police custody, the station said, adding that investigators noted Bryant also is responsible for an armed robbery Friday at Bodega Delray.

Anything else?

WPBF noted that despite the hair-raising incident which included a bullet flying past him, Cesar didn't miss any work.

Why?

Because he has a family to feed, he told the station.

Clerk Fights Back Against Armed Robberyoutu.be