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Two men were arrested Wednesday after they tried to rob Suleyman's Market on Cleveland's West Side.

(Ryllie Danylko, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A man working at a West Side Cleveland deli turned the tables on two armed robbers Wednesday night when he drew his own weapon and forced the robbers to surrender.

Two men were arrested following the incident at Suleyman's Supermarket on the 3100 block of Marvin Avenue, police said. The suspects, a 19-year-old Parma man and an 18-year-old Cleveland man are in jail awaiting formal charges.

The deli owner, a 54-year-old North Olmsted man who asked to remain anonymous, said in an interview Thursday that if he wasn't armed, the robbers likely would have killed him and his friend.

"I was so panicked and scared," he said. "They would have killed both of us. What's going to stop them?"

The owner was manning the store about 9:45 p.m. and talking to a friend who was helping him run the shop, police reported. Two masked men burst into the pointing guns and demanded money.

A man walking by the store saw the two masked men enter the store with guns, reports show. He flagged down a passing police car.

Back inside the store, the owner emptied the register of about $300, police said. The robbers grabbed the cash and ran toward the front of the store.

The pair stopped when they saw an officer standing outside, the owner said. They turned around and ran toward the back of the store.

The man's friend grabbed a gun from behind the counter and ran after the robbers, reports show.

As one of the robbers entered the back room, the friend grabbed him slammed him into the wall, police said. The second robber hid in the bathroom.

The friend told police he tried to coax the robber out of the bathroom, saying "my gun is bigger than yours."

The robbers surrendered and begged the man not to shoot him, reports show. The friend ordered them to the ground and handed the owner his gun while he searched the robbers for weapons. He found a gun and a magazine in their pockets.

The friend then called 911, police reported. He told a dispatcher he was holding two armed robbers at gunpoint inside the store.

He eventually went outside to talk to the officers while the owner stayed inside with his gun trained on the robbers.

By this time, Cleveland police had called a SWAT team to handle the armed suspects, reports show.

The owner ordered the robbers to crawl out outside, where they were immediately arrested.

The suspects are expected to face charges of aggravated robbery.