Police: Shop owner fires warning shot, gets stolen beer back

COCOA, FLA. — Police say a Florida gas station owner chased a man and fired a warning shot, forcing him to return some stolen beer.

Orlando television station WESH reports it was the fourth time store owner Sowann Suy used his gun in defense of his store in the Atlantic coast community of Cocoa. Suy, who's dubbed "Clint Eastwood" by friends, told the station he fired the shot Wednesday after the man took the beers and threatened to beat him up.

Records show Suy shot a suspect in the stomach at the store in 2009 and chased off another suspected robber the following year. In 2016, Suy wounded one man and two others were arrested during a botched robbery.

Cocoa police spokeswoman Barbara Matthews says Suy has "a perfect right to defend himself."

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