62-year-old Chicago store owner credits God for "permitting" him to live in the incident where he fought off armed would-be robbers who attacked his Logan Square store with a baseball bat in Chicago Tuesday afternoon.
Ecuadorian Luis Quizhpe, owner of Quizhpe’s Gifts and Sports, was shot only one time in the leg despite more than ten shots were fired by the intruders, who entered the store he’s owned for the past 28 years after around 5:30 p.m., the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
“It was like the Fourth of July. Pow, pow, pow,” Quizhpe told the Tribune. “God didn’t permit me to go yet. There must be a reason, for all the shots that he fired.”
According to ABC Chicago, the shop owner’s son, Juan Quizhpe, thanked God for a father, who is “brave and courageous.” The shop owner is recovering in good condition.
When the two gunmen entered the store, one of them grabbed Quizhpe’s brother-in-law Luis Ernesto Aucaquizhpe, saying “Give me the money or you are dead,” according to ABC.
"I froze. I didn't know what to do," Aucaquizhpe said. "The gun was right there. Then (the gunman) began to shoot and shoot and shoot."
The second gunman proceeded behind the counter, where Quizhpe started swinging his bat, triggering the criminal to open fire. Apparently, one of the gunmen has been accidentally shot, and as they began to flee the scene, the brother-in-law threw a stool and a fire extinguisher at the robbers.
Later at a hospital on Chicago’s North Side on Wednesday, Quizhpe told the Chicago Tribune that he did not realize that he had been shot in the leg when he began swinging his bat vigorously, striking the robber in the head and upper body repeatedly.
The shop owner is recovering in good condition.
Both Quizhpe and his wife have been held up at gunpoint before. But, after this most recent attack, he thinks he might sell the store, reported the Chicago Tribune.
"The reality is, with everything going on, it's difficult to put myself and my family in danger."
According to Chicago-Sun Times, 53-year-old Cornell Mack has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery and discharge of a firearm as of Thursday morning.
