North Charleston store clerk after co-worker shoots at robbers: 'They left running'

A wounded store clerk used his own gun to fire back at an armed robber Friday, foiling the early morning stickup attempt in North Charleston, police said. The clerk suffered a leg wound during the gunfight, but it was not thought to be life-threatening. It was not known if any of the robbers were hurt, North Charleston Police Department spokesman Spencer Pryor said in a statement. They got away, but they took nothing. "It went so fast," a clerk, who wasn't wounded, said in a 911 call. "They left running outside when (the clerk) shoot at them, you know." The wounded clerk is in the hospital recovering, said Kelly Saadeh, a clerk who works at the store but was not present during the attempted robbery. Around 4 a.m. Friday, two robbers with blue gloves walked up to the Tiger Mart at 3255 Rivers Ave., near the Reynolds Avenue intersection, an incident report stated. One stopped in the doorway. The other, who wore a mask and was armed with a handgun, walked inside, store employees later told the police. He pointed his gun and shoved one of the employees to the floor. When the robber saw another clerk with a gun of his own, the masked man retreated behind the counter. "They came up with a gun," the 911 caller said. "And he ... come behind the counter with a gun, and he start shooting.” A bullet hit the employee in the upper right thigh, the police said. Saned Damrah, the injured worker, then fired a round back with his .38-caliber Taurus revolver, the report explained. That sent the robbers scattering. The primary perpetrator was described as a black man with a mask, possibly with a skeleton pattern. He was 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 and slender, Pryor said. The other also was a slim black man standing at about the same height. Officers who responded found Damrah bleeding behind the counter. The revolver lay next to the 20-year-old, and he was alert and talking. Investigators reported finding a bullet hole in a window and a fired bullet near the gas pumps. Over the past year, it has become more common for people in the tri-county area to meet gunfire with gunfire, sometimes with deadly results. Seven of the 77 homicides recorded in the region last year were deemed justifiable, and two happened in North Charleston. Only two were reported in 2015 across the entire area.

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