GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The manager of a party store where a clerk was shot is calling the act a hate crime.
The incident happened at the Bottlenecks store on Fuller Avenue NE near Aberdeen Street NE just before midnight Saturday. The store manager wasn’t there at the time of the robbery, but said the clerk told her what happened.
Surveillance video shows the masked robber enter the store carrying a long gun.
“He said, ‘Keep your hands up. Don’t look at me,'” the manager, who asked not to be identified, told 24 Hour News 8 on Monday.
The robber demanded money. The clerk, who goes by Tony, put cash in a bag and handed it over.
The manager said the shooter then took Tony to a back room. The manager said the robber then ordered the clerk to his knees, stuck a gun in the his mouth and said something to the effect of “I shot people like you overseas in the Middle East.” The manager said the gunman also called the clerk a terrorist and a member of ISIS.
“Tony thought, ‘OK, I’m going to die; might as well die fighting,'” the manager said.
The manager said the barrel of the gun moved to the side of Tony’s mouth as he fought back, potentially saving his life when the gun went off. The bullet went through his cheek.
The manager told 24 Hour News 8 the shooter fired two more shots before taking off.
The 34-year-old victim is out of the hospital and recovering at home.
“He’s very lucky because it could have been a lot worse, but thank God he’s OK,” the manager said.
While providing an update on the case Monday afternoon, Grand Rapids Police Department Sgt. Terry Dixon said the victim responded “very bravely” and he might be dead had he not taken action.
Dixon said the clerk told them the gunman said something like he “used to kill people like him for fun overseas.”
The clerk is from India, not the Middle East, and he is not Muslim.
“We shouldn’t be targeted for it because we have nothing to do with it. We are just trying to live our normal lives. Like I grew up here and a lot of my Punjabi friends did,” the manager said. “Whether we’re Indian or whether we’re (not), it doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t specifically be going for one race. … We’re not involved in any of it and so it’s just really sad that people are thinking like that.”
Dixon said police are treating the case as an armed robbery and shooting and they need more information before determining if it was a hate-fueled crime.
The shooter is still on the run. He’s approximately 6 feet tall. Police say he left the store wearing a mask, black hooded sweatshirt, quilted flannel shirt and black pants.
GRPD released a surveillance photo of the suspect in hopes of identifying him. Anyone with information is asked to call GRPD at 6116.456.3400 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345.