By Joe Johnson
A westside convenience store employee was injured Sunday night as he fled from an armed robber, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report.
The 20-year-old victim reported he was sweeping near the front counter of Golden Pantry at 2350 W. Broad St. shortly before 11 p.m., when a younger Hispanic male entered through a side door while aiming a pistol at him.
When the gunman demanded “all of the money,” the employee ran out a back door and fled toward his home in the nearby University Oaks apartment complex.
The employee, who was walking with a limp, told an officer that he injured himself when he fell while hopping over a fence in the store’s back parking lot.
Due to complaints of pain in his hip and leg, police said the employee was transported by ambulance to St. Mary’s Hospital.
According to the police report, security video camera footage captured the incident: At about 10:58 p.m., a thin male wearing a gray long-sleeved shirt, dark pants and a dark-colored mask entered the store through a side door and immediately produced a handgun. The employee put his hands up then immediately ran out of the store; The suspect ran to the front counter for a brief moment and then left through the same side door.
Detectives were notified of the incident but they did not respond to the scene due to the limited number of areas in the store that the suspect touched, according to the report, which noted that responding patrol officers tried to lift fingerprints from the door but were unable to recover anything of evidenyiary value.