Tobacco store clerk takes robbery into her own hands, shoots robber

6ABC.com ^ | 03/02/2015

[E. Pluribus Unum]

LEXINGTON, KY --

Surveillance video shows a tobacco store clerk fighting off two robbers in Lexington, Kentucky.

The Tobacco Zone had been locked, but the thieves got in as a customer was leaving. They then went to the office and demanded money.

As one of the thieves rummaged through the cash register, he carelessly left his handgun on the counter.

"While he was struggling to get money out, he threw the gun on the counter. And I grabbed the gun and I pointed it," store clerk Zara Adil told WKYT-TV, "and I told him, 'I'm gonna shoot you if you don't leave.' And the second guy he just took off running."

The 21-year-old clerk ended up shooting the thief who stayed behind in the shoulder. She also pulled off his mask.

"Turns out it someone who had been here before (sic). And I asked him, 'Why are you doing this?' and he said, 'If you let me go, I'll just go.' And I said, 'Don't touch the money when you're leaving,'" Adil said.

The thief then ran out of the store empty-handed.

The clerk has some scratches and bruises but will otherwise be okay. She's hoping police will start cracking down harder on robbers. She also said she thinks robberies would be less common if everyone reacted how she did.

"Stuff that happens around here...nothing scares me," Adil said. "These people don't know respect, they don't give respect."

"(If they) start getting stricter punishments, I think robbers would have a lesson to them."

Police say they know who the robber is and have issued a warrant for his arrest.

[Mastador1]

"Well sir, I wasn't sure what he was about, so I fired off a warning shot through his liver."

California warning shot, one through the head while yelling a warning and one into the furniture twenty seconds later. Never give someone the opportunity to dispute your story.

[QBFimi]

>> Does a person have a responsibility to a store clerk they don’t even know?

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do know not; am I my brother’s keeper?” Gen 4:9

[Blue Jays]

Much of it depends on what one truly feels is the opportunity for success.
Standing in the queue, unarmed, without knowledge of the robbers allies...that is a risky proposition.
If a family member or friend is with me and they are directly threatened...that is another factor favoring a fight.

If one is alone, near the exit, and can just duck outside?
Nothing wrong with employing that technique in an uneven fight.
My family and friends would prefer that I be alive rather than taking a truly large risk to life and limb.

[School of Rational Thought]

Everyone in the store knew these guys were going to rob the place

[Blue Jays]

Those robbers were the most suspicious-looking guys ever.
Who seriously wears a hoodie indoors like that unless up to no good?
I hope this brave young woman is safe in the future.