GREENVILLE COUNTY, SC (WYFF) -
Deputies say a suspect was shot after holding a knife to the throat of a convenience store clerk during an armed robbery.
Greenville County Sheriff's Office spokesman Laura Campbell said deputies responded to a report of an armed robbery just before 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Garden Spot gas station and convenience store on the corner of Altamont and State Park roads.
Campbell said when deputies arrived, they saw the suspect holding a knife to the clerk's throat. Deputies then opened fire, hitting the suspect through a plate glass window.
"Oh my goodness," was how Mark Spencer reacted to the ordeal. Father of one of the store clerks, Spencer said his son called him from inside a locked stock room to tell him about the robbery going on at the store.
"I mean, that was our fear with him working here, especially this time of year," said Spencer,
The other clerk was being held at knife-point when deputies arrived.
Campbell said the deputies had a clear shot of the suspect from outside the store. She says they fired directly through the plate glass window, hitting the robber and possibly saving the clerk's life.
"You know, the deputy at this point had the shot, so he's not going to take the time to go through the front door and then give that suspect time to put the knife into that victim in that case," Campbell said.
The suspect was taken to Greenville Memorial for treatment. There was no immediate word on his condition.
The clerk was also taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
There was also a customer inside the store.
"He's okay. He's fine. He's a little bit shaken up," said Katie Crim, the customer's fiance. "How he always gets involved in stuff like this, I don't know, but he does," she laughed.
Deputies have not said how many shots were fired in the incident.
Bullet holes through the glass. (Source: WYFF)
