Victim survives shooting at Westpack

“I still wonder whether it would have been best if I did not tackle one of the robbers,” said the man, who did not want to be named.

“I am not saying what I did was right, I still don’t know what was the right decision.

“But I do know that it was an incident I wish my son did not see.”

The 42-year-old victim was shopping at the store with his three-year-old son when the establishment was robbed by four armed men at around 2pm on Sunday (August 21).

“I saw that the men had BB guns,” he said.

“So I tackled one of the men and told the rest of the customers to help me, because these guys had plastic guns.

“But everyone stood back and I did not see that one of the men had a real gun.”

The City Times viewed the footage at West Pack Lifestyle on Monday (August 22) and asked the man, who is a Farrarmere resident, what was said between him and one of the robbers before he was shot.

“I remember the robber telling me that he would shoot me and I told him that he had a plastic gun,” he said.

“That is when another robber came from my left and shot my forearm.”

After the shooting, the victim grabbed his son and ran to the back of the store to hide.

“I just remember grabbing my son and running through the aisle with him, then calling the security company and my mother to fetch him,” the victim said.

The victim’s wife was in London at the time of the incident and took the first flight home after receiving news of the robbery and shooting.

“An ambulance transported me to Life the Glynnwood Hospital, and my mother took my son home,” he said.

“The whole experience feels surreal; I play the scenario over and over in my head.”

The victim and his family will be attending counselling sessions in the near future.

Police are still investigating.

Also read: Fallen police officers remembered

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