An attempted robbery at a store was foiled after the owner wrestled the raider to the ground.

Christopher Bromby said that the would-be robber entered Bo’s Lawn Equipment on Middle Road, Warwick, closed the door behind him and motioned towards his waistband.

He said: “He closed my door and faced me, and he’s dressed in all black — that’s when it registered to me ‘this is no ordinary customer’.

“I didn’t even give the guy a chance to pull out whatever he was trying to get out.

“Thinking about it now it was probably a bad move, but it was just instinct.”

Mr Bromby tackled the suspect as soon as he reached for his waistband and the two fell through the doorway and on to the street.

He said: “As I tackled him, I thought ‘Shoot, I can’t let him go now because if he gets to what he had in his waistband he could potentially stab me or shoot me’.

“I didn’t even see what it was — I didn’t want to give him the chance to pull it out.”

The two struggled in the street until the suspect broke free and escaped on foot.

Mr Bromby said that it was the first time in 11 years of running the store that he had been the victim of a robbery attempt.

He added: “My father’s owned the business for 25 years and he’s actually been robbed at gunpoint, but this is the first time this happened to me.

“I heard about that robbery that took place in Ord Road last weekend, so, in the back of my mind, I was kind of preparing for this.

“It was something that I didn’t want to admit to but I kind of expected it.”

But Mr Bromby said that the area was a welcoming one.

He added: “The Warwick community is very beautiful — I’m from Somerset and the Warwick people have taken to me like I’m one of their own.

Mr Bromby said: “All sorts of customers come through here — all different walks of life — and they’re normally all good people.”

Mr Bromby said the raider was a slim black man, about 5ft 10in tall.

He added that he planned to install extra CCTV security cameras around the store to deter further robbery attempts.

Police are investigating the raid.

A spokesman said: “Anyone who carries out an act like this is a person of interest to the Bermuda Police Service.

“We are asking for anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in this specific case to contact police.”

He added that a connection to the Ord Road store robbery last Saturday “cannot be ruled out”.