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Instantly heroic five-foot-tall grandmother, 63, tackles hammer-wielding thief in failed newsagent raid and sits on him until police arrive
- Roseann Gibson, 63, helped the robber to the ground in December last year
- The man burst into the newsagent in Glasgow, armed with a claw hammer and a knife
- The grandmother and her cousin were able to stop him until the police arrived
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A heroic grandmother helped stop an armed robber at a local newsagent by sitting on him until the police arrived to arrest him.
Roseann Gibson, 63, was working with her cousin at the newsagent in Glasgow in 2021 when a man in a balaclava armed with a claw hammer stormed in and demanded staff hand over the store’s money.
Cousin Christopher Brown, 26, jumped over the counter and tackled the would-be thief to the ground while Roseann ran to help.
The grandmother unmasked the attacker and recognized him as a previous customer in the store.
CCTV footage captured the moment Roseann, who is six feet tall, pinned the robber to the ground along with Christopher and held him back until police arrived.
Roseann Gibson, 63, was able to restrain the man when he tried to rob Brown’s Newsagent in Glasgow
CCTV footage shows the man, wearing a balaclava and armed with a claw hammer, enter the store and demand the money from the counter
Roseann and Christopher quickly knocked the man to the ground and wrestled the weapon away from him
The gunman was thrown to the ground by the brave staffers
Roseann (left) can be seen restraining the would-be mugger while an elderly customer (right) holds onto the man’s hammer as she ‘gives him mouth’
The grandmother was able to pin the man to the ground until the police arrived and arrested him
The attacker, George Kinnear, was later found to be armed with a knife when he attempted to rob Brown’s newsagent.
Kinnear, a veteran of the armed forces, admitted to an attempted robbery and threat of violence at Glasgow Crown Court.
Roseann told the Daily record she was shocked by the incident last December.
She said: “When I looked back at the CCTV footage, I was shocked. I just can’t believe I did it. Many things have changed since it happened.
“Before, I never thought about standing in front of the store early in the morning while we wait to open, which I’ve been doing for 42 years. But now I’m waiting in my car across the street.
“I hate to feel this way, but I’m scared and angry. You always get dafties, but this is the first time something this bad has happened.
“There’s a panic button right behind where Christopher was standing, but his instincts took over.
Roseann said of last December’s attack, “I was shocked. I just can’t believe I did it’
“He said he just saw the hammer and was thinking about me while I was thinking about him.”
The attack happened when an elderly customer entered the store with a bag of gifts for Roseann’s grandson.
The customer managed to take the claw hammer from Kinnear after Christopher and Roseann wrestled it to the ground.
Roseann added: “I knew someone else was coming in but thought it was a regular customer. But the next moment I saw the papers being turned over. Then I looked and saw that the man had a hammer.
“By then Christopher had knocked over the papers and distracted him. He came with the hammer.
“I managed to get the guy with the side of my body down, but by then Christopher had flown over the counter tossing a plastic Perspex screen.
“He got him down and we sat on him. I have to admit that even though I say we were on him, it was pretty hard because he was trying to get up while we were trying to stop him.
“I took the balaclava off him because I wanted to see his face to see if I knew him. I recognized him – not as a good customer but as someone who had been in the store before.
“We just held him. He clearly let go of the hammer and Mrs. Callaghan lifted it, which you can see in the video. She clearly shut him up.
“Normally I never had my phone with me in the store, but that morning I did because I had priced something. Luckily I managed to hold him on top of Christopher with me and call the police.
“They came very quickly. The police came back and told us he had a knife when they searched him. I still can’t believe this happened.’