GARDEN CITY — Hussein Almawa, store owner of Smoker’s Depot in Garden City, was almost caught in the middle of an Armed Robbery when two caucasian suspects, ages 18 and 20, had come into the store in an attempt to pull off a robbery.

a still image of the attempted robbery earlier this week.

But their plans were interrupted when Almawa had suspected that the two men were up to no good, because they had came into the store wearing hoodies. Smoker’s Depot is located less than a mile from the Garden City Police Department, and Almawa says police had warned him in the past that customers who come into the store hiding their faces usually have a goal of robbing the location.

Almawa had told the two men to leave the store instead of attempting a robbery because they would be captured on his surveillance system. One of the men then pulled out a gun, and that was when Almawa quickly reacted by punching him in the face and shoving him out the door.  Angry, the men began firing shots at Almawa as he was running behind his counter to grab his handgun. He was able to dive behind his counter and grab his handgun before any bullets had hit him. The men in total shot 4 bullets from the entrance of the store before running to their car, where they began circling around the store. 

Caught in the middle of the incident was another female from a store nearby, who had heard the gunshots and ran over to check up on Almawa. When entering the store, Almawa pushed her out of harms way as the two men were firing bullets from their vehicle, which hit several of the store’s windows. 

The men escaped from the location, but not long before Garden City police would catch them in a nearby alley. They were arrested and arraigned at the 21st District Court this week. The two suspects are also believed to have been responsible for a similar robbery at another tobacco shop earlier that day.