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A 7-Eleven owner caught a teen thief. Instead of calling 911, he asked him why

7-Eleven owner treats thief with kindness
Ohio 7-Eleven owner confronts thief with kindness 01:46

On Saturday night at a 7-Eleven in Toledo, Ohio, store owner Jay Singh spotted someone who made him suspicious.

"You can see he's turning here, putting stuff in his pocket," he said.

Singh told an employee to call 911, and then he confronted the customer.

"He said, 'Oh, I'll put it back.' I said 'No, put everything on the counter. I want to see all the things that you have,'" Singh said.

He wanted him to answer a simple question: Why was he stealing?

"He said, 'I'm hungry. I'm stealing it for myself and my younger brother.' I said you need food? I'll give you food. That's not a problem," Singh said.

So he did, filling a bag with food for free and waving off the 911 call. Singh said there was no point in getting the young thief arrested.

"He's a young kid. That will go on his record that he was a thief. He cannot do anything in his life. He will not get a good job. This will not solve his hunger problem," Singh said.

Across the counter, Cedric Bishop was a witness. He thought what he saw was amazing, so he shared it on Facebook.

"There was over 1,000 shares. Brought tears to my eyes honestly," Bishop said.

For Singh, he had a simple reason for why he did what he did.

"It's basically our Indian culture that if you give food to a hungry person, that's considered like God will bless you for that," he said.

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