Takeaway shop worker ambushes armed robber

Zhuo Feng Jiang's ambush surprised the gunman and the hold-up ended with him fleeing empty-handed and injured. Photo / Alan Gibson

A Chinese takeaway shop worker leapt on to an armed robber who was threatening his family, wrestled him outside, grabbed his gun and shot him in the leg.

Police are still hunting the masked man who entered Aotea Chinese Restaurant and Takeaways in Tokoroa just before 10pm on Monday demanding money.

Zhuo Feng Jiang, whose family has owned the small South Waikato shop for more than 10 years, said he was in the store's chiller when he heard a man's voice telling his mother and cousin, who were behind the counter, to put money in a bag which he laid on the floor.

The shop workers at first thought he was joking and that his weapon - a semi-automatic .22 rifle with a telescopic sight attached - was a fake.

"They smiled and said 'Hello'," Mr Jiang said of his relatives.

"But then he fired [the gun] on the floor and I knew 'This is serious'."

Mr Jiang, 26, stayed hidden in the chiller, next to the counter, and waited for the man to walk past the door.

He then pounced on the startled robber's back, knocking the rifle out of his grip.

Mr Jiang and his 20-year-old cousin pushed the man out a back door while wrestling for the weapon.

The robber fell to the floor and Mr Jiang was able to grab the rifle.

He fired a shot at the ground to scare the man.

"I got the gun and pointed it at him and said 'Don't move'. I fired the gun on the ground and he still tried to get the gun. I fired again. He said 'Ow'."

The man is thought to have fled into the Lake Moana-nui Reserve. A police dog was unable to track him more than a few hundred metres from the scene.

Police had contacted hospitals, medical centres and doctors' surgeries to try to find the man and were also asking medical practitioners to contact them if they had treated anyone for a gun wound.

Police have not said whether Mr Jiang will face charges, but Tokoroa Detective Senior Sergeant Todd Pearce said they did not encourage robbery victims to approach their attacker.

"This situation could easily have resulted in a fatality and it could have easily been one of victims that had been shot or killed.

"Fighting back when firearms are involved dramatically increases the danger to everyone present and should not be considered."

An Auckland liquor store owner was arrested last year after a brawl outside his store.

Virender Singh Bains was stabbed during the altercation, and said he was defending himself.

But he was arrested on two charges of injuring with intent to injure. The charges were dismissed after a depositions hearing.

The Tokoroa robber was described as a male Maori, of stocky build and about 1.8m tall.

A woman at the neighbouring Mobil service station, which has also been robbed this year, praised Mr Jiang's actions, but said it was dangerous to take the law into your own hands.

"He could have been killed.

"Nobody knows how you'd react at the time.

"You'd have to be mighty quick to beat a bullet."

A neighbour of the takeaway shop said the gun shots "sounded like party poppers going off".

He defended Mr Jiang's actions.

"At the end of the day, he's protecting himself and his family. Shots were fired both ways."