COWETA, Okla — Coweta police are looking for a suspect in an armed robbery that took place at a Kum & Go over the weekend.
Late Saturday night, CPD responded to the area of East 151st Street South and South 292nd East Avenue for reports of a store robbery. Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and the Wagoner County District Attorney's Office assisted the investigation.
Coweta police warn the public that the suspect is considered armed and dangerous.
“I’ve been here seven years and this will be the first armed robbery we’ve had," Coweta Police Chief Mike Bell said.
He tells us the suspect entered the store with intent to rob it.
He waited behind a customer in line at the register and as the clerk opened the register the suspect pushed past a customer, presented a gun and demanded the money.
There was a scuffle between the clerk and suspect leading to the suspect firing the gun a couple times.
“It looks like the clerk put his hands on top of the tray to try and keep the suspect from reaching and grabbing money at that time. So when he puts his hand down on top of the tray to stop him from taking the money that’s when the first two shots rang out," Chief Bell said.
As the suspect got away with the money, the clerk threw something causing the male suspect to turn around and shoot several more times.
“So being the fact that he actually fired 5 rounds at another human and didn’t think anything of it because he really didn’t think anything of it. He actually shot this guy and there's no remorse you could tell by looking at him that tells me he’s very dangerous and he is armed," Chief Bell said.
The clerk was transported by a medical flight to a local hospital but police say he is in stable condition.
Meanwhile, one Coweta resident tells us she’s a single mother and is terrified to leave her home with the suspect still out there. She also wonders if the area will see more crime like this. But Chief Bell says not to worry...
“This is just one of those freak things where they came into town and he robbed a store here and as far as I’m concerned I don’t think this is something we need to be concerned with at the moment.”
Chief Bell says they have extra police on patrol right now.
He also says they have several good leads that could help them identify the suspect.
Plus — “We have another team out trying to gather video from around the city of Coweta; schools, businesses, homes," Chief Bell said. "We are looking to see whether or not there is a vehicle involved and so far up to this point we have not located any vehicles that may have been involved in this.”
On Monday, police released the surveillance video.
Chief Bell hopes by sharing the surveillance video they can identify the suspect quicker.
They have received more than 100 tips after releasing surveillance photos of the subject on Sunday.
As of Monday, they have investigated about 50 of those leads.
Chief Bell told 2 News, “I need as much information as we can possibly get. Remember this guy shot another human being so he needs to be caught. He needs to be brought to justice.”
The Kum & Go was closed on Sunday and Monday at the store manager's request so they could clean up the mess left behind. New signed posted on the door Monday afternoon say the store will reopen Tuesday at 5am.
This is a developing situation. We will continue to update as we learn more.
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