Moment hero customer stopped Aldi armed robbery

A HERO shopper tells how he leapt into action when a bat-wielding man stormed an Aldi, knocking out an attendant in a botched robbery.

A HERO shopper who rammed an armed attacker with a trolley in an Aldi store has described the moment he was compelled to spring into action.

Manuel Melgarejo was shopping at Aldi in the NSW suburb of Albion Park Rail last January when Mervyn Davidson stormed into the store high on drugs and gripping an aluminium baseball bat.

Davidson’s rampage began with him demanding cash from a female checkout assistant who was working near the store’s entry, and quickly striking her with the weapon so she slumped to the ground unconscious.

It was at that moment that Mr Melgarejo said he felt like he had to do something and ran from the aisle where he was shopping with his wife and daughter, to the counter where the man was standing over the knocked-out worker.

Manuel Melgarejo is the hero shopper who rammed a crazed attacker with an abandoned trolley during an attempted armed robbery at Aldi. Picture: Channel 9

“He just went to launch at me with the baseball bat and as he did that, I grabbed the trolley and pushed it into him,” Mr Melgarejo told A Current Affair.

“There was kids there, there were people crying and screaming, it was crazy, it was like out of a movie or something.”

Another shop assistant quickly joined Mr Melgarejo in trying to restrain the drug-fuelled attacker, grabbing Davidson and taking the baseball bat from him.

“I pushed the trolley again, hit him, and went down, and grabbed him around the waist, put him down on the ground and put him in a lock hold,” Mr Melgarejo said.

The brave customer described trying to restrain Davidson as “trying to hold five men down”.

“He was crazed, just yelling and screaming and just going berserk,” he said.

Mr Melgarejo said he feared for his life, and was convinced if the shop assistant who was attacked had been struck one more time, she could have been killed.

“He could have killed us all. I don’t know,” he said.

A brave Aldi shopper confronted the attacker and rammed him with a trolley.

Shocking footage of the incident was played to Wollongong court on Monday during

Davidson’s sentencing hearing, the Illawarra Mercuryreported.

The video shows Davidson entering the store with the aluminium weapon in hand, before striking the female worker with the bat.

As well as capturing Mr Melgarejo’s act of bravery, the footage showed the violent incident played out in front of a young boy, whose father tried to comfort him as the man was dragged from the store.

CCTV footage shows the attack unfolded in front of a young boy.

Davidson was charged over the incident and pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced next week.

The Aldi worker was hospitalised for five days.

Though the incident happened just over a year ago, the publication of the footage has led to the customers who helped contain the incident being praised as heroes.

“Bloody Aussie legends,” one local wrote on Facebook.

The daughter of the man who rammed the attacker with his trolley said proudly: “That’s my dad in the black that took down the attacker ... After a year, finally get some recognition!”