EXCLUSIVE: Convenience store robbed; clerk pistol-whipped

The Sunshine Energy store at 1102 W. Shawnee, probably more known as the gas station next to Wal-Mart, was robbed this morning at around 2:43 a.m. by multiple robbers, who pistol-whipped the overnight clerk.

“There were three guys,” said store manager Ashley Morgan. “One was talking to my overnight clerk and asked him for a pack of Newports.”

When the clerk turned around from getting the cigarettes, which were behind him, one of the men hit him on the head with a pistol. Another of the men went behind the counter and pointed a gun at the clerk, telling him to stay on the ground. The third man went into the back storeroom and got “two or three” cartons of Newports.

The men then took $421 from the store and left.

The clerk called the police.

“He’s got a bump above his left eye,” Morgan said. “But he’s OK. He’s just a little shaken up.”

The store was not equipped with cameras.

If you have any information about this robbery, call police at 683-8000 — and then call us at 869-1482 so we can report it.

Filed under: Crime, Local by Leif Wright