Posted by: danphe December 25, 2010
Gas station clerk fatally shot in robbery in Pasadena
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Be careful Guys !!!! http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7353882.html Pasadena police are seeking at least one suspect in the shooting death of a convenience store clerk during an apparent robbery early Christmas morning. A man in a ski mask, a black jacket and jeans entered the Conoco gas station at San Augustine and Beltway 8 about 2:20 a.m., shot the clerk and took the cash register, said Pasadena Police Department spokesman Bud Corbett. The clerk, 22-year-old Jayachandra Elaprolu, was shot five times, Corbett said. Police distributed surveillance video from the store to local media outlets in an attempt to find witnesses. Corbett said investigators were surprised by the aggression and ferocity of the gunman who appears to walk in with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol in hand and start shooting. "To actually see the suspect enter a store and engage in gunfire is a unique circumstance," Corbett said. "He’s a very violent individual and the sooner we apprehend him, the better." Corbett said Elaprolu was able to get behind a door that opened to a small office behind the counter. However, he appears to have been shot through the door. He was dead when police arrived minutes later. The convenience store was open for business Christmas day, less than 12 hours after the shooting. A manager at the store, Ali Kahn, said Elaprolu was from India and had been working at the store for less than a month. He declined to comment further. In the video, the gunman can be seen pulling the cash register off the counter and hauling it out, snapping an attached cord as he left. Corbett said it was unclear whether the crime was the work of one man or if there were others involved because another man can be seen making a purchase then returning to get change for a dollar just before the shooting. The video appears to show the first man exiting the store and turning right, seconds before the gunman came from the right of the store and entered. Corbett said if the first man was not helping the gunman, he would be a witness who walked right past a man in a ski mask with a gun. A woman can be seen entering the store about a minute and half after the incident, finding the clerk and calling the police.
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