Posted on April 13, 2012

Amazing Video of Topless Hero Confronting Armed Thug Who Tried to Steal Moped Belonging to 70-Year-Old

Phil Vinter, Daily Mail (London), April 13, 2012

When faced with a gun pointing at their face, most people would run a mile, but not this courageous store owner.

Brave Timothy Gramza has been captured on camera standing up to an armed robber outside his store in the city of South Bend Indiana, U.S.

In the video, which lasts for just under two minutes Mr Gramza is seen chatting to friends in a small yard next to his shop just before 11.30am on April 1.

A man dressed in a grey hoodie appears on the screen from the left hand side and continues to walk down the street, passing a moped and pick up truck parked on the road.

A few seconds later, the suspect returns to the scene, climbs aboard the moped and tries unsuccessfully to start the vehicle.

A topless Mr Gramza then confronts the suspect, who pulls out a long-barreled revolver and points it at him. He then begins struggling with the robber, who eventually hits him on top of the head with the gun

Moments later the storekeeper can be seen falling to the floor as the bungling robber attempts to shoot him in the leg.

According to the South Bend Tribune Mr Gramza said he initially thought he had been shot and he later found a welt on his leg which could have been caused by a bullet ricocheting off or a rock that had bounced up.

After the shock of being fired at the 56-year-old, who lives in 900 block, Harrison Street, clambers back to his feet and continues to confront the armed suspect, both verbally and physically.

The robber has his gun pointed at Mr Gramza for much of the video.

Unknown to the robber Gramza had his own gun in his back pocket throughout the incident. He later said he was unable to pull it because he believed he would have been shot.

The video shows the have-a-go-hero reaching behind his pocket on several occasions.

At the end of the video, the assailant appears to charge the other men in the garage in his desperate search for the keys to the moped.

As the suspect finally leaves the scene without the moped, Mr Gramza is seen firing six shots at him.

The shopkeeper said his adrenaline was flowing during the incident and he didn’t think twice about confronting the man — even though it could have meant his life.

South Bend Det. Sgt Gene Eyster said: ‘It’s possible that one of the six shots Gramza fired at the suspect could have struck or grazed him.

‘He was saying, ‘I’m taking this bike,’ Gramza said. ‘I said, ‘No, you’re not taking it. It’s my buddy’s bike.’

‘He fired that first round, and I thought, ‘It’s on now.’

The suspect is described as a black man, in his early 20s, about 6 feet tall and weighing 150 pounds.