BRADDOCK, Pa. -- Police in Braddock said a store owner fought off a robber who, a minute earlier, had borrowed money from the shopkeeper to buy potato chips.

Al Handza, owner of Al's Market, said the young man who robbed him Thursday evening is often in his store, but he doesn't know his name. Neither do police who say the man gave them an alias

Handza said he let the man buy potato chips despite being 18 cents short, saying he could pay the difference later. About a minute later, the man came back with a bandanna over his face and put a gun to Handza's head.

"I'm trying to help him out, and he even thanked me when I said, pay me next time," said Handza. "He left and two minutes later, he came back. He had his face all covered with a bandana and a hoodie, and he had a gun to my head."

But Handza, 60, who recently had eye surgery, said he fought back.

"I'm hitting the numbers with this hand, and I have his gun in this hand, and he ran in here," said Handza. "Then he picked up these bricks. He was coming after me, and I told him to hit the ground. I just held him with his own gun until the cops got here."

The gun fired during the struggle, wounding the suspect, who remains in a Pittsburgh-area hospital Friday.

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