Would-Be Robber Leaves Empty-Handed After Shop Owner Ignores Gun and Serves Another Customer

When the shop owner walks away, the gunman continues to wait at the counter, confused, before leaving the store empty handed.

 A masked robber held up a New Zealand store at gunpoint, but was dumbfounded when the shop owner simply ignored him, and continued to serve other customers. 

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In a surveillance footage released by the Canterbury Police last week, a man clad in black clothing and a ski mask can be seen approaching the shopkeeper from the other side of the counter. He places an empty bag on the table, and holds up a gun.

But store owner Said Ahmed, 55, was clearly too busy to pay the man any attention. He seamlessly continues to pack his customer's order and ignores the gunman's demands.

Ahmed then reaches around the masked bandit to give the order to the customer, who calmly grabbed his meal, and warily walks away from the scene.

As if not realizing the armed burglar was in his shop, Ahmed then walks into a back room, leaving the man alone with his empty bag and gun.

Confused, the gunman continues to wait at the counter before collecting his belongings, and trudging out of the store.

"He's surprised at my reaction," Ahmed later said in an interview with Stuff.co.nz. "He told me give me the money, [but] I was nearly finished with a customer."

The owner said when the man walked in, Ahmed even smiled at him, assuming he was just another customer. Then, after a closer look, he noticed the man was masked, and he could only see his eyes.

"When I saw the gun, I thought, oh this is different, this is a robbery," he said.

But he wasn't scared. Ahmed knew the man "came to rob me, not kill me."

So instead of giving into the would-be burglar's demands, Ahmed instead went back into the kitchen, and called the police.

"He failed," Ahmed laughed. "Unsuccessful night."

Even though he laughed off the botched burglary, Ahmed has since began closing the shop earlier since the incident more than a month ago.

"We used to be open later on Friday and Saturday nights, until 11 p.m., but since this happened we have closed at 10 p.m. just like the rest of the shops down the street," he said, according to Stuff.co.nz.

Read: Robbers Get Arrested After Bragging About Stealing Thousands of Dollars In Facebook Video

Ahmed said he moved to New Zealand from Turkey 20 years ago, and this robbery was the first of its kind in the 15 years he owned the kebab shop.

The Canterbury Police are continuing their search for the bandit, and have asked anyone with more information to come forward.

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