POLICE in the US this week released video of a seven-year-old boy with a stuffed toy who tried his best to fight off an armed robbery suspect.

“He punched him,” the boy’s father told the Washington Post. “Two left hooks while holding the Yoshi doll.”

According to the New York Post, Police released the video of the May 20 holdup at the GameStop store in Silver Spring, just outside Washington. Police said two robbers pulled off the heist, fleeing with cash and personal property. No one was injured.

Police said the suspects carried guns and were wearing black, hooded sweatshirts, black pants, gloves and masks.

The New York Post reported that the boy went to the store with his parents and picked a doll of the Super Mario character out of a bin. The boy and his parents weren’t together when the robbers entered the store.

The father told the New York Post he wrapped his arms around his son when they were all ordered to get on the floor.

“It was a terrifying situation,” he said. “You just want to grab them and hold them tight to you and you want it to end, quickly.”

In a separate interview, the father told Fox 5 Washington that after seeing the video he knows why his son is so brave.

“Because he saw somebody who was a stranger, who seemed most dangerous to him and he tried to defend himself,” the man told the station. “I think it was his natural instinct taking over there.”

This story originally appeared in the New York Post