Armed Robber's Victim, 79, Fights Back

June 19, 2014— -- An armed robber thought he scored an easy target when he spotted the 79-year-old Marvin Lail, but the thug did not count on the war veteran fighting back.

Lail was filling up his car at an Orlando, Fla., gas station at 7 a.m. this past Saturday when the suspect came from behind the gas pump and demanded Lail give up his wallet.

Lail refused.

The suspect pulled out a gun, but Lail still refused to surrender his wallet.

"He kept saying:' Give it up old man, give it up old man,'" Lail said. "He was not getting my money."

The suspect attempted to yank Lail's wallet from his pocket and Lail struggled to hang on to his money until an employee of a nearby store came out and scared off the suspect.

"He had a scarf wrapped around his head. He looked like a mummy," Lail said.

Lail had his gun in the car that time, and was not able to reach it immediately. He sustained minor scuffing on his hand, and said he lost some cash.

Watch the surveillance video released by Orange County Sheriff's Office in Florida:

Vanessa Lebron, a cashier at the 7/11 store nearby, saw Lail struggling and fighting with the suspect. She sent co-worker Shion Pierre-Charles out to see what was going on, according to the police report.

Pierre-Charles approached Lail and the suspect and demanded what was going on, prompting the suspect to release Lail and walked away. Lail rushed back into the 7/11 and called 911, according to the police report.

“I didn’t know the suspect had a gun in his hand when I went outside the store,” Pierre-Charles told ABC News today. “I just told him to leave the property.”

“Crimes can happen anywhere, but fact that this happened at 7 a.m. was unusual,” Jane Watrel, spokeswoman at Orange County Sheriff's Office told ABC News today.

“Mr. Lail followed his guts, and it worked out for him,” Watrel said. “Each incident is different, and we ask to people to follow their instincts.”

Lail said he will prosecute and testify in court.

The suspect is identified as about 5-foot-10 and about 150 pounds.

Lail said he would carry his gun in the pocket in the future, and leave his cash in the car when pumping gas.

"If he comes back to me again, he will be killed," Lail said.