Police say a Brooklyn gas station owner and retired correction officer exchanged gunfire with a pair of armed robbers when they tried to stick him up Monday afternoon.
Two men tried to rob the 70-year-old gas station owner on Gates and Throop avenues in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood at around 1:30 p.m, but he fired back, according to police. Friends say he is heavily armed.
"This would be the worst place you'd come to rob," Ken Kaufman, a retired NYPD officer, who will star in a documentary chronicling their 1970s crime fighting. "You're better off robbing the police station. There's more guns here than the crooks have."
Kaufman and Joe Willins, the friends of owner, Hillary Farmer Jr., aren't surprised he took on the robbers, suffering a gunshot wound to the leg. He has been part of the neighborhood for more than 40 years.
"He's my hero," Willins said. "He would do that. He's a tough guy."
Farmer was shot in the leg during the shootout, police said. He was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he's listed in serious but stable condition. He is expected to be OK.
At the scene, there were bullet holes in car windows, shattered glass and visible shell casings that detail the shootout.
Police Tuesday morning released surveillance footage of the suspects last seen wearing a white and a red shirt. Police said one of the suspects wore a black ski mask, while the other wore a red bandana across his face.
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Police do not have the suspects in custody.
