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Store owner was no easy mark Thursday Feb 22, 2018 at 5:11 PM Feb 22, 2018 at 5:11 PM Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune MEDFORD — Peach Street Market owner Nancy Murrish recognized the eyes of the would-be robber who wielded a knife and demanded money when he entered her store with a bandana over part of his face Wednesday night. She doesn’t know his name but she knows for certain that he’d better not come back. Murrish said it was just before her 10 p.m. closing time when the man walked in and demanded money. By the time Medford police units responded to an incomplete 911 call from the little store at 424 S. Peach St., Murrish had refused his demands, scuffled with him after he jumped across the counter and, despite his attempts to pull her back inside, raced out her front door and screamed to alert neighbors. “He had his face covered up and he held a knife over the counter and said, ‘Open the till,’ ” recalled Murrish, who has owned the store for almost 23 years. “I looked at him and I said, ‘Screw you!’ ” While responding to the initial call, dispatch received a second 911 call advising police the suspect had fled on foot. Interviewed Thursday, the matter-of-fact Murrish, in her early 60s, seemed more resolved to preventing future issues than anything resembling afraid. “I wasn’t aware of what was happening until he said to open the till. When I looked and saw the knife in his hand, I knew he was serious, but I thought, ‘Are you kidding me?’ When I saw the knife, I quickly dialed 911 and he jumped over the counter and ripped the cord out of the wall,” she said. “By that point he was more focused on the phone than getting me to give him the money.” Murrish said she felt only slightly afraid when he tried wrestling her back inside. “I have a little extra weight, so that and a little adrenaline helped me fling myself out the door, and I landed on my side,” she recalled. “I didn’t really feel afraid. I was just mad. … And I still am.” Medford police issued a press release Thursday describing the suspect, who left empty handed, as a skinny, blue-eyed, fair-skinned male in his early 20s, about 5-foot-11 and wearing a dark-colored sweater, jeans and red-and-white shoes. Medford police Lt. Justin Ivens said police don’t advise citizens to engage with armed criminals but said the store owner’s actions undoubtedly “threw a wrench in his plan.” “I think her getting to the phone probably had the suspect starting to think, ‘This isn’t going like I pictured it would,’ ” said Ivens. “There was probably a little bit of a fear factor on his part, too, that he was going to get caught so was thinking, ‘I should get out of here if I’m going to live to see another day.’ ” A similar crime, in which a robber brandished a knife at a News and Smokes shop in Medford and was chased by a clerk and several customers, was featured on Crime Stoppers this week. Ivens said citizens have been more vocal about local crime of late and more proactive about reporting and helping to identify would-be criminals on social media. “I think people, with social media now, have an avenue to post and report things, and there’s a lot more information available at everyone’s fingertips than there used to be,” he said. Indeed, even before Medford police sent out a press release about the robber, Facebook users were commending Murrish and voicing support. Murrish said she viewed the attempted robbery as a nudge to boost security and she has a plan in place to ensure customers feel safe shopping at her store. That she recognized the suspect as a local homeless man who had “cashed in” soda cans in her store before made her feel more angry and disrespected than afraid. She voiced appreciation for neighborhood support. “When I first got here about 22 years ago, there were two meth labs down the street and it was a rough neighborhood, but it’s turned out to be a really good neighborhood, because we all really stick together and support each other,” she said. “Sometimes you think everyone forgets all about you, so it was so nice to have the support. I’ll tell anybody this much. I wasn’t afraid at all. I don’t believe in fear, because that’s what’s going to nail someone. If you look like an easy mark, they’re going to come again.” She added, “If he tries to show up again, he’s going to find that he’s not going to feel very welcome.” Anyone with information about the case should call the Medford police Criminal Investigations Division at 541-774-2230 and reference case number 18-3752. — Reach freelance writer Buffy Pollock at [email protected].