Video Shows Brave, South LA Grandma Protecting Her Mini-Market From Armed Robber

SOUTH LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A brazen, would-be robber was taken by surprise by an even braver South L.A. woman who stood up to him, despite the fact he pointed a gun at her face, and it was all caught on tape.

"Quería la money," 68-year-old Socorro Ordello tells CBS2 News. She retells how she fought off a gun-toting thief who tried to stick her up at her own store, a mini market near 51st Street and South Central Avenue.

In footage captured by the store's security camera, the gutsy grandmother can be seen immediately going around the counter to confront the man in a hooded sweatshirt who enters her store looking like he's ready to shoot.

Ordello tries to push the gun away as he points it at another person behind the counter.

After pointing the gun in her direction, she still manages to push the man, who eventually puts the weapon in his pocket.

Armed with only a water bottle, she shakes it at the man, and he eventually exits the store.

"Le dije que se fuera," Ordello says in Spanish. "I told him to leave." It worked.

"La verdad que en ese momento no tuve miedo," she says. "The truth is I wasn't scared at the moment."

The robber did manage to get away with $50.

Looking back at the video, she realizes it could have turned out badly for her, but she says she thanks God she and her husband were not hurt. "Gracias a Dios no me pasó nada."

Ordello and her husband are back at work, but they fear the person might return.

Police say anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation should not follow Ordello's example.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD's Newton Division at (323)846-6547.