The owner of Oakland's Gourmet Market did not want to appear on camera, but he told ABC7, his nephew was the clerk on duty when two armed men entered the store.
They demanded money from the cash register and from two customers.
"The customer grabbed the gun and the other gunman shot," said the owner.
The clerk and the customers were each struck by gunfire, but still managed to wrestle one robber to the floor and hold him for police.
The other suspect ran away.
"You've got to look at what you're going to lose. If you basically going to just lose money, then you should not resist a robbery," said Sgt. Rich Vierra from the Oakland Police Department.
Investigators identified the man they arrested as 21-year-old James Morgan, who was on parole for a drug conviction.
The store owner told ABC7 he's never been robbed here before.
"This area's a good area, it sometimes happen," said the owner.
Despite what happened, the Gourmet Market was open for business on Friday. The regular customers told us they have no fear about coming here.
"I know the people who work here and the people who shop here so I'm worried about them, but I'm not worried all of a sudden that I live in a dangerous neighborhood or anything," said customer Annemarie Brentrup.
Robberies are down in Oakland so far this year 17 percent compared with last year.
Still, police and Mayor Ron Dellums worry Oakland residents might try to do more than they should.
"This not the Wild West. We don't want people to take matters into their own hands. Our hope is that we will continue to deploy our police department and destroy our strategies in a way that doesn't require people to take matters into their own hands," said Mayor Dellums.
Police removed video from the store's security cameras. They'll review it to see if it might lead them to the robber who got away.
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