An elderly California liquor store owner who flipped the script on armed gunmen during an attempted robbery said Tuesday that he had no choice but to open fire on one of the assailants, insisting it was “either him or me.”
Craig Cope, 80, said he fea…
An elderly California liquor store owner who flipped the script on armed gunmen during an attempted robbery said Tuesday that he had no choice but to open fire on one of the assailants, insisting it was “either him or me.”
Craig Cope, 80, said he feared for his life as four would-be thieves drove up early Sunday to Norco Market & Liquor in Norco, where he was behind the counter when one of the assailants busted in with a rifle and yelled at him to freeze.
“I got a long gun pointing directly at me,” Cope told The Post. “It was either him or me and I was a little bit faster.”
Cope said he knew something was off when he saw a dark BMW SUV pull up alongside the store instead of into several nearby open parking spaces. They also “backed in” as they approached, which was another “red flag” for the quick-thinking owner.
“And then I saw them getting out of the car in masks and with guns,” Cope continued. “So, I figured what was going to happen. I just knew they were armed and masked and that they were coming in, so I was ready for them.”
At one point, three of the suspects hopped out of the SUV, while a fourth man stayed behind to act as a getaway driver, Cope said.
Surveillance footage from inside the store shows Cope firing the shotgun just seconds after the gunman announced the robbery, wounding the would-be robber in the arm.
“He was screaming that I shot his arm off,” Cope recalled. “That’s what he said.”
Cope, who suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital after the shooting, is recovering at his Riverside home.
He said he intends to keep working at the store, but may soon cut back on his hours. That has nothing to do with Sunday’s attempted heist, which he characterized as a “terribly isolated” incident.
