Police: Armed robber fatally shot by store clerk
WAUCONDA, Ill. (WTVD) -- A 24-year-old clerk shot and killed a masked man who tried to rob a convenience store at gunpoint in Illinois, police said.
Officers responded to a call of a robbery-in-progress at the Kwick Shop in the 100-block of East Liberty Street around 9:10 a.m. Sunday.
Police said an armed man entered the store, pointed the weapon at a clerk and a customer and demanded cash. When the clerk, Ahmad Sanham, pulled out a hidden weapon, the alleged robber ran. Ahmad shot the suspect.
Officers arrived to find the man, a six-foot Caucasian man in his early 20's, lying on the ground. He was transported to Good Shepherd Hospital in nearby Barrington. The Lake County coroner's office said he was pronounced dead at 9:42 p.m.
Monday, Ahmad's older brother Jawad is working in his place. He says Ahmad needs time to process what happened.
"When he saw that he had the chance, that no one else in here except him, so boom," Jawad says. "It just happened in seconds.
Jawad says a customer got away moments before Ahmad made the split-second decision to use the store weapon behind the counter.
"He asked him for money, so he told him, 'I'm going to grab the money,'" Jawad says. "And when he got down here, he just pulled his gun and just shot him."
Wauconda police say that in this early stage of the investigation, the shooting seems justified. The Lake County Coroner has not identified the suspect and police say he had no identification on his person. The Lake County coroner also says the suspect was armed with an air gun, and he does not appear to have a criminal history.
The police investigation is ongoing.
