From Seattle Times:

The would-be robber brandished garden shears. The gas station clerk – a hammer stapler.

The clerk prevailed.

Bellingham police are looking for a man who went into a Starvin Sams gas station Aug. 20th at 2:40 a.m., pointed garden shears at the clerk and demanded money.

The clerk stepped back as the “shear man” repeated his demands. Finally, the robber grabbed the cash register and tried to yank it off the counter.

That’s when the clerk pulled out at hammer stapler — they look a bit like a hammer but there’s a stapler head at the business end — and smacked the robber in the arm. That was enough for the robber who ran out the door and down the street.

Police were called but neither they nor their police dogs were able to find him.

The clerk was unharmed and the robber got nothing except for the slap from the hammer stapler. Police didn’t say if the stapler was loaded.

Anyone with information concerning the robbery can call Bellingham Police Detective Tim Ferguson at (360)778-8824.