A shopkeeper has today told of his horrific ordeal at the hands of armed yobs who struck him in the face with a gun and demanded cash as his terrified wife looked on.
Nand Sharma had been working in his Wednesfield store, chatting to customers, when the two gunmen wearing Halloween masks burst through the door and threatened to shoot him if he did not give them money.
“I almost thought it was a joke at first,” said 34-year-old Mr Sharma.
“They barged in and I had been talking to customers. The one had a gun and kept shouting ‘give me the money, or I’ll shoot you’.”It was at that point that the father-of-two, who has run Sharma News in Waddens Brook Lane for four years, was struck on his jaw with the gun. “He hit me with it and I fell back a little bit,” he said. “I tried to get round to the other side of the counter and hold the till.
“The one man who had just hit me tried to get hold of it. He was waving the gun around. The other man didn’t say anything all the way through.
“One of the customers who I had been talking to then ran round and picked up a broom and started pushing the man with the gun away. At that point they just ran off.”
Mr Sharma said he and his wife Savita, who had been stood behind the counter during the attack, had been left terrified by the experience. “I am still shook up about it,” he said.
“Normally our children come to the shop after school so they could have been here when it happened. The thought that they could have seen it is terrible.
“It all just happened so quickly. It was all just a blur.
“I am really thankful to the customer who tried to help me. I am just trying to make a living and something like this happens. It makes you really scared but I can’t just quit and give up the shop.”
Less than an hour after the attack, a group of youngsters were approached by a gunman while waiting at a bus stop in Ashmore Park. He demanded they hand over their mobile phones.
Police are still trying to discover if the incidents are linked. Anyone with information should call police on 0845 113 5000.
By Victoria Nash
One Comment
Isn’t there a case for allowing Shopkeepers and people who handle money to arm themselves to deter criminals, or to at least blow them away when they strike?