Sword-wielding store clerk chases off robbers with machetes

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- A pair of machete-wielding robbery suspects were caught on camera being chased off by a clerk who brandished a superior weapon: a scimitar-style sword.

Perry Market store owner Jewad Hayitt said two young men wearing masks came into the shop just before 10 p.m. Friday and one of the teens pointed a machete at a customer while the other brandished a similar long knife and jumped behind the counter to demand cash from Hayitt.

Security camera footage shows Hayitt swat at the teen's weapon and brandish a blade of his own, a scimitar-style sword.

Hayitt said he could have drawn a gun, but chose the sword to scare the teens.

"I use this one when I see him with the sword, to make him afraid," he told KDKA-TV.

The security footage shows the teen fleeing from the sword-handling clerk, who turned his attention on the other robber.

"The other one, he came to attack me from here," Hayitt said. "I attack him like that, I touch his sword and it falls, or something like that."

Police are investigating the incident and working to identify the suspects.