Store clerk fired for fighting with robbery suspect

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Video of a robbery at a Hamilton convenience store was uploaded youtube Thursday night. A clerk who was fired by Mac’s for fighting with the suspect during the robbery, says the company leaked selected portions of the video to make him look bad, and does not tell the whole story of the confrontation.

The 28 seconds of video shows Jamal Abugalib repeatedly punching a man who had just robbed the Mac’s on King Street east. The incident started on Tuesday just after 4am, when Abugalib says the man came in the store with his hand in his pocket, demanded cash and gestured like he had a gun. Abugalib says he gave the man all the cash in the till as well as the change, but the man did not leave the store. Abugalib says the man dropped the change and asked him to help pick it up. “I’m thinking I’m going to lose my family my life, my kids, my wife… so he take his hand from his pocket and I see that’s maybe the good chance to take him down. ”

Abugalib says he was fired for not following company protocol: hand over the cash, don’t resist and call police. He says that when the robber wouldn’t leave, he had to fight for his life.

Hamilton police say Abugalib will not be charged, since the law permits people to defend themselves if they feel they are in jeopardy.