Last weekend, a clerk alerted Jitendra "Jay" Singh — owner of a 7-Eleven in Toledo, Ohio — that someone was pocketing items, so Singh checked out his video cameras and then confronted the teenage shoplifter, WTVG-TV reported.

"Do you want me to call the cops, or will you take it out?" Singh told the station, recalling his question for the culprit.

But the kid's response was a game changer.



"He said, 'I'm stealing for myself. I'm hungry, and I'm doing it for my younger brother,'" Singh noted to WTVG.

Amazing response



An employee had a 911 operator on the phone, CNN reported, but Singh told him to hang up.

"I said, 'Well, that's not food. You're stealing gum and candies. That's just something for munching,'" Singh added to CNN. "I said, 'If you're hungry, ask me. I'll give you food.'"

Image source: WTVG-TV video screenshot

So Singh sent the teen back to the aisles to grab pizza, sandwiches, and other food and let him have it all for free, WTVG said.

"It's not going to make any difference to me if I give him some food because we make a lot of food, we sell a lot of food," he added to WTVG. "If he goes to jail then he's definitely not going to do anything good in life."

'He has a great, big heart'

"He has a big heart," customer Cedric Bishop told the station. "He has a great, big heart."

Image source: WTVG-TV video screenshot

Bishop posted on Facebook about Singh's act of kindness, and the story is spreading.

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"I thought that was just beautiful because the young man could have had a record," Bishop added to WTVG.

'I'm really proud of him'

Singh's wife of nearly 30 years isn't surprised by the compassion he showed.

"I'm really proud of him, and it is the true self of himself," Neera Singh told WTVG. "I know him; he's very kind."

Image source: WTVG-TV video screenshot

She added to the station that her husband has always been caring person, and that they view helping others as part of their community duty.

"We are part of the community, and we have to help the community," Neera Singh added to WTVG. "It is a part of our job."

Jay Singh also told the station he'd be willing to hire the teen if he's old enough to work, and that he hopes at least the kid will be generous to someone else someday.