'A gun doesn't scare me': Shopkeeper tells of drama after fending off armed raider - WATCH
"My dad always said live like a hero." A brave ex-soldier come shopkeeper who fought off an armed robber with a can of repellent spray has spoken of how it would have been against his morals and beliefs to have cowered to intimidation.
Shikha Mahsum, the owner of Kobani Off Licence on West Bromwich Street, Palfrey, called on his training when confronted by a hooded gunman, grabbing a can of dog repellent spray from underneath the till and going on the offensive, forcing the robber to flee.
The shop is named after the six-month siege of Kobani in northern Iraq, when Kurdish fighters backed by air strikes defeated a large Islamic State force.
For the 39-year-old, it was a case of leaving his role as a local shopkeeper to go back to his days as a Peshmerga soldier.
Speaking about his time in the forces, he said: "In 1996, everyone in Kurdistan become Peshmerga, we had to fight Saddam.
"I was injured, my brothers were shot but I am still here."
He added: "When I was younger Saddam Hussein bombed the fields where I was playing football with my friends - a gun doesn't scare me anymore."
Mr Mahsum moved to England in 2002 and has lived a quiet life running the off licence since last year.
He still bears scars on his chest and back from his time as a soldier, but he also has his battle instincts intact.
He utilised these when the incident broke out just five minutes before the shop was set to close on the evening of January 9.
He said: "I heard his gun click but I don't know if it was just empty, or only fired blanks.
"I chased him outside and saw that the other two men with him had two of my staff held hostage.
"They had a car waiting outside and were ready to go."
Mr Mahsum said he would have 'rather died' than give in at the point where the gun was brandished in his face.
"They needed a gun and were happy to risk everything for a bit of cash, to me they are not real men," he said.
The shop owner has been commended for his bravery by police and councillors, but warnings have been issued for others not to copy his heroic actions if confronted with an armed robber.
Mr Mahsum said: "If I saw the men now it would be a different story to how it hopefully ends up, with them being in prison.
"When I see them in prison I will say to them that I feel sorry for them, they tried to take my staff as hostages and take me as a hostage but now they will be in a cage."
