80 year-old deli owner evens the odds when two men try to rob him at gunpoint

WJW (Fox Cleveland) reported recently that an 80 year-old deli owner was forced to defend his own life when two masked men attempted to rob his store at gunpoint.

From the article:

Cleveland police are searching for two men who attempted to rob Clark Deli on W. 73rd Street Sunday morning.

Mike Makkal, the owner of Clark Deli, told FOX 8 two men concealing their faces wearing hooded sweatshirts entered his deli around 10 a.m.

"When he tried to force his way behind the counter to the cash register I saw a gun in his hand," he said.

Makkal said one of the would-be robbers tried to get him to open the cash register. That’s when the owner said he pulled out his gun and shot at the men. The suspects ran from the store.

"I shot one shot then he got down and ran," Makkal is quoted as saying, "Then the other robber went to the end of the store and asked me not to shoot him, but I put my gun in his face."

He told FOX 8 he was shaking and scared for his life when the two men tried to rob him, but even at 80-years-old he refused to back down.

On June 7, 2014, Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, went on CNN's "New Day Saturday" to discuss persons exercising their right to open carry in Texas. Show host Victor Blackwell asked "Where [has] a bad guy with a gun ... been stopped in any other way or by a person other than a law enforcement officer with a gun or by killing himself?”

“This has never happened,” replied Watts.

Not only has it happened - Fox 8 reports it has happened TWICE in Makkal's store in TWO weeks!

Makkal described what happened during the last harrowing armed robbery attempt.

"I found a stainless steel gun to my head," he said.

Then, the gunman chased him around the store.

"Until he found my gun in his face," Makkal said.

That gunman also ran from his store.

Makkal says he has owned his deli for 40 years and isn't going anywhere.

Police are still looking for the suspects.

These incidents come less than a month after Cincinnati prosecutor Joe Deters announced he would not press charges against a store owner who shot and killed an armed robber in Cincinnati.

Before he began his attack, the armed robber walked right past a sign on the counter featuring a large sign which says "WARNING - This is a victim free zone"

(Photo by WXIX Fox 19)

After he was shot by the store owner who made good on her word and refused to be a victim, the would-be robber stumbled back past the sign before collapsing and dying in the doorway.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.