A Texas convenience store clerk was shot and killed Friday after chasing a pair of shoplifters who stole a bag of potato chips, police said.
Police said one of the suspects chased two people in his car at a Sunoco gas station in Humble, Texas, and fired shots at the store manager after they tried to steal potato chips around 11:30 a.m., police said.
The 42-year-old worker, who has not yet been identified, was shot and died from his wounds.
“Nobody expects someone to just go to work that day and not come home,” Humble Assistant Police Chief Dan Zientek told reporters at the scene.
Surveillance video inside the store Acquired by KPRC Two men wearing black clothes enter the store, and the manager can be seen following them with a bucket and beginning to mop the floor.
After walking around, the men stop in the aisle in front of a potato chip shop, where one man appears to put a bag in his pants, according to the video. They spend another minute in the store and then leave without paying.
According to the video, the store employee followed them outside and verbally questioned them before leaving the store.
Police said the employee then got into a car and followed the two men.
“They started shooting at him and he tried to reverse the car and ended up on the median,” Zientek said, according to KPRC.
Police said the man was struck by a bullet during the barrage and died while sitting in the driver's seat.
Local broadcasters said the car was riddled with bullets at the scene.
The suspects fled the scene on foot and remain at large. Police appealed to the public for help identifying the two men.
“We lost a great citizen who was just trying to work and do his job. Instead, we have two people who also ruined their lives because they ended up going to prison,” Zientek said. .
Police said the victim had only been on the job for three to four months. According to KTRK.
