Store clerk chases, tackles robber

MARLBOROUGH, Conn. (WTNH) -- A store clerk in Marlborough gives in to the demands of a would be robber but then moments later changed his mind and decided not to let him get away with the cash and took matters into his own hands.

It happened just before noon at a corner store in Marlborough. Adbul Khan was working behind the counter when a man walked in wearing a mask.

"I asked him take off your mask. He said give me your money. I said, 'What? You kidding me?' Then he asked me again, give me your money. I said you must be joking with me buddy. He said no, give me my money before I shoot you," said Khan.

The masked man had his hand in his pocket and said he had a gun.

"I opened my drawer and gave him all my 20's," said Khan.

The owner of the gas station says the masked man left so casually, so slowly that it provoked him and he chased after him. They ran across the parking lot through the street to the over pass and that is where he tackled him to the ground and wrestled the money away from him.

"You tackled him to the ground," asked News 8's Bob Wilson.

"Yes, I tackled him to the ground and then I give him two really good, you know. Then he just tried to get away from me and he throwed the money at me," said Khan.

Khan says he got his money back but the robber took off to a car but a good samaritan who stopped to help called police.

"I called 911 and I gave them all the information, his description, his license plate, his car description, his clothes, everything," said the woman.

Police tracked down the car and arrested the driver, Joshua Strong, of first-degree robbery and sixth-degree larceny. Kahn says he is glad the man is now behind bars.

"He says he had a gun, points it at you, what made you go chase him," asked News 8's Wilson.

"I work 18 hours a day a lot. Every day we work from morning to the end of the night and someone just comes and just gets my money? It's not going to happen in my house," said Khan.