During an outing at the Cobbs Creek Park in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a 67-year-old man suddenly found himself facing off with two masked men. One of the would-be robbers was carrying a pellet gun (a toy), and the other was armed with a stick. The one with the toy gun aimed it at the senior citizen’s face and demanded that he hand over his valuables.

However, the 67-year-old man was not willing to part with his stuff. The pair got into a physical fight. During the commotion, the old man pulled out a .38 caliber handgun and used it. He shot the masked robber in the head, killing him at the scene of the robbery. The robber was believed to be either a teenager or a man in his early twenties. The man with the real gun had a concealed weapons license and did not possess a criminal record, which helped him get along with the police officers who arrived on the scene after he killed the man.

After the fight, which resulted in the robber’s death, the old man was taken to the hospital for a checkup. He was complaining of chest pains, which had first responders worried since that is a symptom of a heart attack. But the stress of the deadly altercation would cause anyone to have a racing heart and to feel very anxious. These can cause chest pains, too.

When things took a turn against the robbers, the accomplice with the stick fled the scene. Police have not been able to track him down or identify him yet.

Although the 67-year-old man killed the robber, police are treating the incident as an act of self-defense. They do not have plans to charge the intended victim with a crime even though he killed a man with a gun.

“At this point, I don’t see any charges being filed,” said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Mike Chitwood.

The man who acted in self-defense came from Philadelphia. He said he was walking in the park around 2:30 pm when he heard people coming up behind him. He turned around and was shocked to see the robbers ready to attack.

“When he turns around, he sees a guy with a mask covering half of his face, and he’s got a gun in his right hand,” Chitwood said.

Chitwood said that after the crook demanded the old man’s money, the guy “immediately reached out to the gunman’s right hand” and worked to get control over the toy firearm.

“A struggle ensues – this is a 67-year-old tangling with a much younger man – and as (the robbery victim) starts to lose his balance, he reaches into his waistband and pulls out his gun, a .38-caliber revolver,” Chitwood said. “As he’s falling backward, he fires one shot.”

Police believe that the 67-year-old man did not know the other man’s gun was a toy and that he was acting in self-defense as though it were a real firearm that could cause fatal harm.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said the victim “did a great job defending himself.”