An 80-year-old Southern California liquor store owner who opened fire with a shotgun and wounded a would-be armed robber this summer has died, the store reported Tuesday.

Craig Cope died Tuesday morning, and a memorial at Norco Market & Liquor will be held at a later date, according to a Facebook post. It didn�t mention a cause of death.

Cope was alone at the counter shortly before 3 a.m. on July 31 in Norco in Riverside County when a man in a ski mask came through the door, pointing a rifle and demanding: �Hands in the air! Hands in the air!� Surveillance video shows Cope firing one blast from the shotgun.

The gunman fled. Surveillance cameras outside the store caught him screaming �He shot my arm off, he shot my arm off!� as he got into a car and was driven away.

�I didn�t have time to be afraid� after the car with four robbers pulled into the parking lot, and some got out wearing masks and gloves and holding weapons, Cope told KTTV-TV.

One robber came through the door with what Cope said appeared to be a semiautomatic rifle.

�The guy pointed the gun directly at me. It was him or me,� Cope told the station.

Four men were later arrested at a hospital where the wounded suspect was being treated. The getaway car had been stolen in Las Vegas and contained stolen weapons, authorities said.

Cope was commended by the Sheriff�s Department. Video of the shooting made him a celebrity. People flocked to the store to photograph and congratulate him and to buy items, including a T-shirt with the slogan �Don�t Mess with Norco, We�ll shoot your arm off,� KABC-TV reported.

Cope had owned the store since 1976. After the shooting, he suffered a heart attack but recovered and returned to work before having a disabling stroke in October.

(AP)