MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — An 8-year-old girl is being credited for helping to derail an armed robber at a Maplewood liquor store, and perhaps save her father from injury.
Ramsey County prosecutors have charged 37-year-old Conchobhar "Conor" Joseph Morrell with first-degree attempted aggravated robbery in the incident, which occurred on August 10 at Big Discount Liquor on the 2500 block of White Bear Ave. N.
Court documents say Maplewood police were dispatched to the store at around 9:30 p.m. on reports of an armed robbery. The victim, an employee of the liquor store, told officers that a customer had carried a bottle of liquor to the counter, laid a firearm on the counter beside it and told him to hand over "everything," an apparent reference to all the money in the cash register. The clerk told police he told the would-be robber he would do so, but asked the man to put the gun away as his 8-year-old daughter was present.
The suspect, later identified as Morrell, reportedly said that the clerk wasn't being quick enough and came behind the counter carrying the gun to empty the register himself. At that point, the employee said, he feared for his daughter's life and punched the robber in the face several times while grabbing for the gun. The two men struggled over the gun before the suspect left the store headed north.
Officers on the scene recovered the gun, which was found to be a BB replica of a Sig Sauer .45 caliber. They found the suspect walking several hundred feet from the store and directed him to stop, but he reportedly refused. The man resisted the officers but was eventually brought under control and detained. He was identified as Morrell, and found to have a fresh abrasion underneath his left eye and blood on his lips.
Investigators reviewed surveillance video from the store which confirmed the employee's account of what happened but also showed the clerk's 8-year-old daughter grab a baseball bat and strike Morrell several times. The would-be robber was wearing a blue Amazon Prime vest, a gray sweatshirt and gray hat, which were later located in a vehicle parked near the store.
The criminal complaint says the store clerk also positively identified Morrell as the man who tried to rob him.
When interviewed by police, Morrell denied being in the liquor store at all, insisting he was in the area to visit a tobacco shop. He claimed the injuries to his face were from an altercation two days earlier.
Prosecutors say Morrell's criminal record includes a 2004 conviction for first-degree aggravated robbery.