There are some people in this world who have an amazing sense of bravery in life-threatening situations that in some people’s minds could be labeled both fearless and foolish.
One such brave individual is an 83-year-old man in Ireland who seemed fearless when a sawed-off shotgun wielded by a robber was pointed at his face, according to the Irish Examiner.
And thankfully for us, it was all caught on camera.
Three armed robbers entered the Bar One Racing betting shop in the small town of Glanmire — which doesn’t have its own police station — in 2018 and attempted to hold the place up. But the elderly man would have none of it.
Refusing to dive to the floor for safety as other customers did, the man instead began to aid the shop manager in fending off an assault from the two robbers who were armed with claw hammers.
The resistance from the man must have been a complete shock to the bandits — who already appeared hesitant to use their weapons — as they quickly scrambled to get out of the store, empty-handed, before fleeing the scene in a waiting vehicle outside.
As can be seen in the video, the retiree risked being shot and beaten with a hammer — but appeared to emerge from the incident unscathed — as he wrestled with and chased the presumably much younger robbers out of the store.
The old man could be seen using a chair at one point to encourage the hasty retreat of the armed robbers, and even gave the last one out a couple of swift kicks for good measure.
The brave man told the outlet he initially thought the attempted robbery was just a joke, but decided he needed to intervene when he saw the would-be robbers attacking the shop manager, who he considered a good friend.
According to The Irish Sun, the exceedingly brave old man was identified as Denis O’Connor, and he is being hailed as a hero even as local authorities urged others not to emulate his rather risky behavior in the face of real physical danger.
O’Connor said to The Sun of the actions he took during the incident, “I just didn’t think about what I was doing.”
“Sometimes you can just sit down and do nothing or you can stand up to people like these, and that’s what I did,” he added.
The Sun reported that local authorities believe they have identified the getaway car, and are asking the public for help in identifying the masked men who tried to rob the bookie shop.
This elderly man could have done what most people would do and simply comply with the demands of the armed robbers, laying low until they had finished their crime and left of their own accord.
But he instead chose to act bravely and exhibited no fear as he took on the three armed robbers and changed the likely outcome of the incident that could’ve ended up much worse for all involved.
Story cited here.
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