Foiled Pouch Cove armed robber sat on until police arrive

A Pouch Cove store owner is thanking her staff and daughter's boyfriend for stopping an armed robbery on Saturday.

Noelle Tobin and her husband own D & L Convenience, and were out of town when a disguised man entered the store. 

However, the crime was caught on a surveillance camera, so they were later able to see everything that happened.

"When he entered the store, he had a pillow case on his head, and a knife in his hand — maybe a 10-inch blade," Tobin told the St. John's Morning Show.

"The staff originally thought he was carrying on, and then he started pounding the blade on the counter."

The video shows the cashier calmly handing the bills from the register to a hooded man, as two customers watch nearby. 

Tobin said her employee managed to push the alarm button without the armed man seeing it, alerting the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and ATD security that there was a robbery in progress.

He caught him just up the road a little ways and sat on him until the police came- Noelle Tobin

As well, she said the cashier tried to slow down the criminal with a clever strategy.

"She was hoping to give him the loonies just to weigh him down when he ran or whatever, but he didn't want the loonies," she said.

Then, Chris Corcoran, the boyfriend of Tobin's daughter, walked into the store from an apartment upstairs.

"He kind of stood to the side and watched the robber take the money from the cashier, and soon as he went to go, Chris chased him," she said.

"He caught him just up the road a little ways and sat on him until the police came."

Barefooted chase led to robber being caught

Tobin said Corcoran only had flip-flops on his feet, and lost both of them during the chase. Other people nearby jumped in to help him detain the man, who threw his knife and pillowcase on the store parking lot before Corcoran pinned him down. 

To keep the robber detained, Corcoran actually sat on him until RNC officers arrived and put him in the back of a police cruiser.

"This guy that held up the store was pretty small in stature and Chris is a pretty big athletic guy, so I don't think they had any trouble," Tobin said.

"This 19-year-old or 20-year-old was very scared."

Tobin said the incident on Saturday was the first time in the store's 24 years of business that someone has tried to rob them.

She said the response from her employee prevented the situation from being much worse than it could have been.

"I'm so proud of my staff, she stayed calm cool and collected," she said.

"She pushed the panic button without him seeing her, and did exactly what she should have done."