Store owner fights off armed robber

Store owner fights off armed robber
Suspect flees with $200 but leaves one shoe, weapon
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BROCKTON - In the blink of an eye, the owners of the Universal Grocery Food Market found themselves pinned behind their cramped counter by a hooded man carrying a shotgun. Just as quickly, Bebiano Correia lunged forward, wrestled with the robber, and took the loaded weapon.


"My husband, I think he saved our lives doing what he did," said Maria Correia yesterday, standing behind the same counter where she found herself staring into a 12-gauge pistol-grip shotgun on Sunday afternoon.

It was the seventh store holdup in Brockton in the past two weeks, a wave of robberies that has caused concern among the many family-owned establishments that dot this city. While authorities say this latest robbery doesn't appear linked to the previous six, there may be a common motive - desperation from drug addiction.

"These are difficult times for a lot of people, and you have desperate people out there looking to satisfy their drug addictions," said Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz.

In Sunday's brazen robbery, the suspect ran out of the store after grabbing $200 off the counter, but he left behind one of his shoes and his shotgun. The suspect remains at large.

The store owner downplayed his heroism. "He came in, and I just wanted to grab the gun from him," said Correia, 48, who has owned the store for nine years. "We fought and fought, and we broke a lot of things behind the counter." During the intense struggle, the suspect yelled several times, "I need money," he said.

The store's surveillance camera recorded the dramatic encounter, including clear footage of the suspect's face. Police are also studying the two items left behind by the robber - the shotgun and the shoe. "It's a size 10, Nike," said Lieutenant John Crowley of the Brockton Police Department.

Bebiano Correia's niece was also behind the counter, helping at the cash register before the attack. There were about four customers inside the small convenience store at 191 Pleasant St. when the man entered at 12:49 p.m.

Correia was handing a customer a calling card for a cellphone when the suspect ducked under a wooden partition and came behind the counter. Customers fled the store as Correia rushed the man. The two tussled for about two minutes, during which time Correia managed to take the shotgun away. As the suspect lost grip of his weapon, he grabbed the money, which was on top of the counter. Maria Correia had just taken the cash out of the register and was preparing to head out of the store to make a bank deposit.

Bebiano Correia said his wife was happy he acted quickly. "I tried to save her life and my niece's life," he said.

Police do not recommend that store owners follow Correia's example and take matters into their own hands.

"It was a split-second decision that the owner made in deciding to fight the robber, but I can't say I recommend that," Crowley said. "That gun could have gone off."

The video shows that at one point, as her husband struggled with the suspect, putting him in a half-clenched chokehold, the shotgun was pointed directly at Maria Correia.

"I was saying 'God help,' " she said.

The store was held up once before, about six years ago, when Correia's 17-year-old daughter was behind the counter. The robber pointed a handgun at her and stole about $300 from the cash register.

Other store owners or managers at nearby convenience stores said yesterday that they would have probably stepped aside in a similar situation.

"I'm gonna say welcome and just let him by," said Tony Mirza, co-manager of the BD Mart at 95 Montello St. "For a couple of hundred dollars, there's no way I'm gonna put my life in danger like that." Mirza said the store has been broken into, after hours, three times recently, including once in January and twice in February.

At the Brockton Mini Mart, about a two-minute walk from Correia's store, Mohammad Khan said the robbery of a business in the neighborhood deeply concerns him.

"It's scary, very bad," he said. "I just bought this store last week. If that happens, well, money is not the most important thing. Life is important."
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