Westside shopkeeper shoots robbery suspect

"The clerk was protecting his business and defending his store employee..."

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A masked man was shot while trying to rob a convenience store on the Westside Sunday, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Police said a man walked into the Holiday Grocery Convenience Store on Shindler Drive around 9 p.m. holding a gun that was covered by a bag.

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According to police, the man pointed the gun at a clerk and said, "Give me all your money or you're going to die," she opened the cash register and stepped behind the bulletproof glass.

The victims told detectives the suspect then climbed over the counter to grab the cash, and that's when the store owner came out of the back room with his own gun and yelled at the suspect.  When the suspect turned toward the owner, he fired, hitting the suspect once in the chest.

The suspect ran out the door -- leaving a trail of cash as he went.  Arriving officers found him lying in the road a short distance away, moaning about having been shot.

According to the police report, the suspect said "tell my mother I'm sorry" as he was taken by Jacksonville Fire-Rescue personnel. He was taken to UF Health Jacksonville with non-life threatening injuries.

Police were not releasing the suspect's name as he is being run through photo lineups for victims of other recent holdups. Two Kangaroo stores and a Hess gas station on Jacksonville's Westside have been robbed since Thursday.

Sgt. Rob Troxler with the Jacksonville sheriff's Office defended the actions of the store owner.

"The clerk was protecting his business and defending his store employee," said Troxler.