A New York shopkeeper found himself the victim of a late-night robbery recently, but a turn of events made it an unusual hold-up. Mohammed Sohail, who is originally from Pakistan, was closing up his store near midnight when a man armed with a baseball bat walked into the store. The robber announced his intentions and Sohail stalled momentarily before locating the rifle he keeps in the store in the event of just such an emergency. As soon as Sohail pulled out the gun, however, the tides turned significantly.
The would-be robber dropped to the ground, requesting Sohail's mercy. He was only stealing in order to feed his family, the robber said, because he was unemployed. Sohail took pity on him. Describing the unusual encounter, he said,"This was a grown man, crying like a baby. He started crying that he was out of work and was trying to feed his hungry family," he said. "I felt bad for him. I mean, this wasn't some kid."
Sohail gave the man forty dollars and a loaf of bread, but only after he secured a single promise from him: not to rob anyone again. The robber insisted that he wanted to be a better person and to become a Muslim, like Sohail. Sohail pretended to "swear in" the robber as a new Muslim, shook hands with the man, and then went to the back of the store to get milk for the robber to take to his family with the bread. When he returned, the robber was gone. Although Sohail reported the crime to the local authorities, he does not want the man to be prosecuted in the event he is caught. The store's surveillance camera caught the encounter on tape, but the man was masked throughout the attempted robbery. Sohail told a reporter that this was the only time anyone had ever attempted to rob his store.
The original report is available here.
