He was shoplifting, not doing a stickup.
He thought he could walk out of the store with the stolen goods, the proprietor complained, he beat up the proprietor, and then he fled.
I am getting really tired of this being portrayed as the theft of $50 of cigars.
A 300 pound man assaulted a 120 pound man in the process of, probably, shoplifting, then fled the scene. The felony was the assault, not the theft.
Anywho, as I understand it, when he assaulted the clerk, the crime went from theft to robbery, a much more serious crime.