CHICAGO — A clerk shot and critically wounded two men who tried to rob his store in Austin on Tuesday, police said.
At 4:45 p.m., the men walked into a store in the 5800 block of West Chicago Avenue and tried to rob the clerk at gunpoint, police said.
The clerk and the two men struggled and the clerk was able to get control of a gun and shoot the two men, police said.
The shooting apparently happened at Dark Emporer's 2 Turnt Up fashion boutique. When reached by phone, the owner of the shop said he was speaking to a lawyer and would not comment further.
Steve Hartmann, who began working at H&R Block Tuesday, said he heard two gunshots then saw a man next to a green car, which he assumed was the getaway car.
"I looked over and the guy was on his butt in the street. He stood up and had a gun so I went this way and called 9-1-1," Hartmann said, motioning towards the back of the business.
The other shot man was picked up by an ambulance down the block, Hartmann said.
One man, 34, was hit in his torso and was taken to Loyola Hospital. The other man, 35, was hit in his upper leg and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. The men were in critical condition.
The 34-year-old man was a documented gang member, a police source said.
Hartmann, of Oak Park, said he was able to recognize the sound of gunshots from his time as a Boy Scout.
"It was so close and it was that distinctive crack," he said, adding he didn't see what happened, but heard that the criminals "got the worst of it."
While it was his first day, another employee who has worked at the store for six years said it was the first robbery attempt she could remember during her time there.