A Memphis man is in the hospital recovering from a gun shot wound he suffered early Wednesday morning in what police are describing as an attempted armed robbery of a convenience store.
Memphis PD was called out to the Twin Food Mart around 3:30 Wednesday morning on a report of a business robbery. Though the suspects were long gone when officers arrived, they were able to speak with a store employee who said he was forced to defend himself from the pair.
The victim said one of the suspects approached the counter and showed a black handgun while the other suspect went behind the counter area through the counter door.
Police say the victim aimed his gun at one of the suspects and yelled for him to go back out.
The suspect then walked up to the victim, pushed him to the ground and punched him in the head, according to police.
The suspect got on top of the victim and attempted to take his gun.
The victim then used his gun and shot the suspect, according to police.
A short time later officers were alerted to a man with a gunshot wound who’d arrived at a nearby hospital. When law enforcement spoke to the man, he offered his own version of the events that had recently transpired.
The man shot was later found by police at Regional One Health, where he told investigators his side of the story: He said that he went inside the store to buy chips when he got into an argument with an employee, who aimed a gun at him.
The suspect said he tried to “disarm” the victim when he was shot, MPD said.
Police said that both suspects were in custody.
I don’t know if officers were able to access surveillance video from the convenience store, but given that the clerk is not in custody and the two individuals who allegedly tried to rob him are now behind bars, at least temporarily, it sounds like investigators weren’t convinced by the story offered by the man who was shot.
According to one nearby resident, the business in question has had a number of incidents in recent months.
“It’s just crazy to think that, like, the amount of things that go on on this corner and how constantly. And it’s an everyday thing,” he said.
According to the Memphis Data Hub, Memphis Police responded to the Mart 14 times in 2024 for robberies, theft, and assaults.
“That type of stuff, that is just unacceptable. The more that we’re allowing things like that to constantly happen, it’s more that it’s going to get worse. I mean, it has to be addressed,” said the neighbor.
The homeowner admitted that he has not tried going to the owner of the shop or local officials about the Mart, but he knows his neighbors have.
“So many things have been tried to be done about this place, but it seems like nothing really happens,” he said.
Maybe now that one alleged robber has been shot, word will get out that the employees of this store are willing and able to defend themselves and the number of robberies and thefts will decrease. One can hope, anyway.
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