Jesus Saves: Attempted Robbery Foiled When Clerk Brings Up Christianity

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (CBS/WFOR) A clerk at a Florida MetroPCS, Nayara Goncalves, says she's been saved twice by Jesus: once by the church and again when her faith helped dissuade a desperate would-be robber from doing something he would regret, according to CBS Affiliate WFOR.

The aborted robbery occurred on July 23 when a man entered the Pompano Beach MetroPCS store showed Goncalves a gun before sheepishly telling her he was there to rob the store.

The five-minute exchange was captured on surveillance camera.

"I really hate to do this," he said. "Don't be scared."

Goncalves replied that she was not scared and then began talking to him about Jesus. The robber revealed that he himself was a Christian and he had never resorted to robbery before but felt he had no choice - his family was about to be evicted.

Goncalves then offered to help him find a job. He replied that he had one. He asked her to open the register but said that if it was empty he wouldn't hurt her, the station reports.

That's when Goncalves strayed a bit from the righteous path and told a white lie - she said that any money he left with would be taken out of her paycheck.

That was apparently too much for the would-be robber to take and he abandoned his plan, saying he didn't want to take money out of her pocket. He then revealed that the gun he had was only a BB gun before turning to leave.

As he walked out the door, Goncalves urged him to have faith and to "go back to church."

"To tell you the truth, I believe him when he said he wasn't a bad guy - like a criminal all the time," Goncalves told WFOR. "I believe that he was just desperate, like he said."