Minnesota Store Owner Tackles Man Trying to Rob His Store, Then His 8-Year-Old Daughter Jumps In with Baseball Bat to Help Finish the Job, Video Shows

Surveillance video caught the daring moment an 8-year-old girl thwarted an armed robbery at a Minnesota liquor store by beating a would-be robber with a baseball bat.

The incident at the Big Discount Liquor store in Maplewood, Minnesota, caught the attention of local and national news outlets.

The store’s manager, who identified himself to local news stations as Leo, said he was preparing to close at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10, when someone he thought was a customer walked in.

The store’s surveillance video showed a man in an Amazon delivery uniform walking in and around the liquor shop before making his way to the cashier.

He approached Leo, pulled out a BB handgun that looked like a real firearm, and placed it on the counter.

“He put the gun on the table. He asked me to give him all the money and everything I got in the register. I told him, ‘Yes, I’ll give you everything,’” Leo told WCCO.

Leo said he asked the man to put away his weapon because his 8-year-old daughter was behind the counter, and he was concerned for her safety.

When the man started walking behind the counter, Leo punched him in the face and tackled him to the ground, surveillance footage showed.

“I’m a dad. I’m not going to let that happen,” Leo said.

And neither was Leo’s daughter going to let her dad fight off the armed robber alone.

The little girl suddenly comes into view carrying a baseball bat and begins hitting the suspect while her dad works to keep him on the ground.

“She said she wanted to defend me,” Leo recalled. “That day, I just wanted to cry when I saw the video. I didn’t expect she’d do that. I expect a little girl crying, screaming.”

The robbery suspect, 37-year-old Conchobar Morrell, was charged with first-degree aggravated robbery.

Charging documents obtained by CBS News show that Morrell has a previous conviction for the same charge from an incident in 2004.

An Amazon spokesperson also confirmed that Morrell worked as a delivery associate for a third-party company that delivers packages for Amazon.

“He will be immediately offboarded,” the spokesperson said of Morrell.

Minnesota Store Owner Tackles Man Trying to Rob His Store, Then His 8-Year-Old Daughter Jumps In with Baseball Bat to Help Finish the Job, Video Shows