An 8-year-old girl came to her dad’s rescue while he was working at a Twin Cities liquor store and beat an armed robber with a baseball bat as her father won a fight for the weapon, according to police.
The pint-sized heroics late Saturday at Big Discount Liquors in Maplewood resulted in the arrest and a first-degree robbery charge being filed Monday against Conchobhar Joseph Morrell, 37, of St. Paul.
Morrell appeared in Ramsey County District Court on Tuesday and remained jailed in lieu of $40,000 bail ahead of a hearing on Friday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
The clerk, who asked not to be identified out of concern for his safety, said Tuesday he thought his daughter was hiding in the store during the attempted holdup.
“I’m proud of her,” the grateful father said. “She’s a good girl.”
According to the criminal complaint and a related court document:
The employee told police that Morrell brought a bottle of liquor to the counter, placed what appeared to be a handgun next to it toward the clerk and demanded all of the money in the cash register. Police later determined the weapon was a BB gun that resembled a .45-caliber handgun.
The employee said he told Morrell he would do as told but asked him to put the gun away because his daughter was in the store.
