Elderly woman shows incredible bravery while stopping shoplifter

An elderly woman showed incredible bravery after stopping a supermarket shoplifter in his tracks.

However, in his way was Elaine Gallaway, who has been praised for pulling off the man's baklava and ushering him out of the store empty-handed.

"It was just a coincidence, and because I sort of already knew that he was a shoplifter, I think my gut instinct was, you’re not going to get away with this."

She added: "So I went about my business, paid for my groceries, and as I was walking out the door he was trying to run out with a full grocery cart of items.

"Then he ran into me and I said to him, ‘You coward, show your face to the camera'."

Gallaway said her 'old training kicked in', while explaining: "I was a bank teller for 17 years and I have been held up at gunpoint.

"I know that the police have said that if they get a clear view of the person then they know who the suspect is that they’re looking for."

"It’s kind of surprising to see that in a town like this, but I was pretty impressed with that lady. She took charge there. They should definitely hire her on as security," said Chris, a Campbell River resident and Walmart shopper.

Chris wasn't the only one impressed by Gallaway's efforts, as many TikTokers rushed to the comments after the clip seemingly went viral.

One person thought: "Give the pensioners the security jobs, younger ones to scared to stop them."

A second added: "She has some very proud grandkids I bet. I love her!"

"Give this woman a security jacket!! 👏," a third person thought.

Someone else wrote: "To be honest I think these people should not involve in this matter. let it handle by store security."

"A 73 year old woman should not have to do something like that. The camerman should have helped," another thought.

"How come the old lady had to grab them and not the man filming," someone else echoed.

Another added: "She shouldn’t have done that bc that man already didn’t care he was being filmed."

Tyla has contacted Walmart for comment.