Lurgan girl chased a shocked would-be robber from her shop with a baseball bat after he threatened her with a knife

Debbie Hoey, aged 27, was working as normal at her store in Queens Street, Lurgan when the young man, wearing a blue hoodie, arrived at the counter.

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It was noon on Tuesday and Debbie was getting ready to head home early when he landed into Dougie’s DayToday store.

He nonchalantly handed Debbie a scrap of paper which claimed he had a knife and he wouldn’t hurt her if she handed over cash from the till.

“I flipped it over (the scrap of paper) and it said ‘I have a knife. Give me the 10s and 20s from the till and no one will get hurt’,” she said.

"My heart sank. I kept going over the word ‘knife’. I had to think real quick and I just lifted the baseball bat that we keep here for protection,” said Debbie.

A video from the CCTV cameras in the store show Debbie reading the scrap of paper and then ducking down behind the counter and raising the baseball bat above her head shouting ‘Get the fxxk out’. The would-be robber didn’t have to be told twice and ran like the wind from the shop.

"Thankfully he fled,” she said. Asked if she saw fear in his eyes after she lifted the baseball bat and she replied: “Yes he was as shocked as me.”

“He was actually running across the road looking at me, like ‘what the hell just happened’.

Debbie’s son Alfie, aged 4, said: “My mummy is very brave.” She says she has no self-defence training but thinks she takes after her Dad for acting quickly.

The 27-year-old, whose family have had a store there for decades, is very grateful for the support she has received since the incident saying her family and the staff have rallied round.

Michelle McCullough, who works at the shop, said she arrived soon after the incident. She said Debbie was with her Dad and ‘very upset’ then the police arrived.

She added that the police managed to arrest the suspect soon after the incident. Michelle said that while Debbie was very shaken on Tuesday after it happened she is ‘fine now’. “Everyone has been rallying around her,” she said.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Police investigating a report of an attempted armed robbery at commercial premises at the Queen Street area of Lurgan on Tuesday 8th April, made an arrest.”

Sergeant Robinson said: “Shortly after 12pm, it was reported to police that a male entered a shop in the area armed with a knife and demanded money and cigarettes. A member of staff confronted the male, who left the shop empty-handed.

“A 16 year old male was arrested on suspicion of related offences and was subsequently released on police bail pending further enquiries.

“Police would continue to appeal to anyone with any information in relation to the incident to contact them on 101, quoting reference number 629 08/04/25.”