The murder of a 71-year-old New York jewelry store worker shows the importance of not resisting armed robbers, security experts say.

According to local news sources, in January an armed robber entered R.S. Durant, a small store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and ordered two bags filled with jewelry.

Worker Henry Manahem, 71, refused to cooperate, leading the gunman to pop a magazine of bullets out of his gun and say, “You think I’m kidding? This is real!” before shooting Manahem. He died soon afterwards.

“People in a confrontational situation get into the fight-or-flight mode, and unfortunately many of them decided to fight,” said Bob Frank of Jewelers’ Security Alliance. “In just about every homicide we have seen here in the last 18 years, there has been some level of resistance on the part of the victim.

“The guy who is coming into your store with a gun, he’s already decided that he is going to use deadly force,” Frank adds. “Jewelry can always be replaced. That is what you have insurance for. But people are harder to replace.”—RB