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Woman suffers broken leg during strong-arm robbery at Rite Aid

ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A woman suffered a broken leg Sunday during a strong-arm robbery that turned into a brawl at a Rite Aid in Rostraver Township, police said.

“It's terrible. It's terrible to walk up to somebody and say you have a gun,” Erica Guadalupe said.

Guadalupe told Channel 11 News on Monday that she could be on crutches for up to six weeks after she broke her leg while struggling with a woman who attempted to steal her purse.

Authorities said the robber walked up to Guadalupe, told her she was a junkie and that she had a gun and wanted her purse.

“I don't know what got into me, but I think that the ‘junkie’ irritated me so badly. I said, ‘Show me your gun,’” Guadalupe said.

She said the woman punched her, and the two tumbled to the front of the store, where a surveillance camera captured the fight.

Guadalupe said she didn’t think twice about fighting back.

“(I had) so much anger, so much anger, and this poor little lady jumping in to help me. I thought, 'This is ridiculous,'” she said.

In the video, a 65-year-old Rite Aid employee is seen stepping in and yanking the attacker’s sweatshirt off while trying to pull her to the ground.

“The guys here at the department describe her as a hero. She really helped the victim out there,” Rostraver police Lt. John Christner said.

The robber managed to escape out Rite Aid’s front doors and was seen walking through the parking lot toward a McDonald’s, police said.

"They’re going to do what they need to do to get their fix, and she was preying on what she thought was the easiest victim or what she thought was the easiest victim. And in this case, she was wrong,” Christner said.

The robber is described as a white woman in her mid-20s with a medium build, shoulder-length dark hair and is about 5 feet tall.