Kenya mall attacker reportedly apologized to, freed British boy, 4, who called him "a very bad man"

LONDON One of the attackers behind the deadly siege on a mall in Kenya reportedly pleaded for forgiveness and gave a four-year-old British boy chocolate bars after the youngster called him "a very bad man."

According to U.K. newspaper The Sun, Elliott Prior, from Berkshire, England, stood up to the gunman to protect his sister Amelie, 6, and his mother Amber, who was shot in the leg in the attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi.

"You're a bad man, let us leave," Elliott shouted at the gunman, according to his uncle Alex Coutts, who spoke to The Sun for an article published Tuesday.

The militant from the al Qaeda-linked Somali terror group al-Shabab allegedly gave him a couple Mars bars and told his family: "Please forgive me, we are not monsters," before letting them escape.

A picture taken by the Getty photo agency captured the moment the three survivors left the mall, with Elliott still clutching the chocolate bars.

Coutts, 42, told The Sun his relatives "had a lucky escape."

"The terrorists said if any kids were alive in the supermarket they could leave. Amber made a decision to stand up and say, 'Yes'. Then Elliott argued with them and called them bad men. He was very brave," said Coutts.