MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 77-year-old Minneapolis man was determined to fight off four armed robbers recently. He was so determined that he fended off the criminals with a sledgehammer.
Roger Krier was working in his garage around 5:30 p.m. recently when he was attacked. Krier said he never thought about not fighting back.
“Out of the corner of my eye I see something,” Krier said.
He turned to face four men one with a semiautomatic hand gun.
“He says to me ‘I want your money and I want it now and I got a gun,’” Krier said.
He said he knew he was going to fight.
“I grabbed this sledge but he didn’t know I grabbed it because I acted like I was going into my pocket. I slipped it over I turned it around and I knocked the gun out of his hand,” Krier said.
He said he used his combat training from 1958 to fend off the attackers. Krier said the sledge hammer hit the robber in the hand.
“The gun went in the alley and the guy hollered,” said Krier.
Krier then chased the men.
“Then I grabbed another sledge and I went out the door and they ran out the alley,” Krier said.
Minneapolis Police said the four men are suspects in another neighborhood robbery. Krier brushed aside the suggestion that he took a huge risk.
“It gives me some satisfaction that I can still get something done and do it right and surprise a person,” he said.
Krier added that he isn’t worried about the robbers coming back.
“I think they picked the wrong garage,” he said.
Authorities are still looking for the suspects in this incident. Anyone with information about the possible suspects is asked to call Minneapolis Police. Authorities said one of the suspects may have a hand injury.
