Trooper shoots and wounds robber at York County Walmart
Store customers and employees wait outside at the scene of a police incident at Walmart in Shrewsbury on Thursday, April 7, 2016. The store was locked down.(Photo: Chris Dunn, York Daily Record)
(Shrewsbury) –A man who robbed the Walmart in Shrewsbury on Thursday night was shot by a Pennsylvania State Trooper, police said.
State police received a call around 7:48 p.m. from Walmart that they had been robbed, Trooper Rob Hicks said.
A trooper who was in the area of the supercenter was able to immediately respond on the call. The trooper encountered the man as he left the store.
The trooper gave the man verbal commands to put down a shotgun, Hicks said. The man raised his gun, and the trooper was able to push the barrel away.
The man was able to fire off one round and, simultaneously, the trooper shot his gun, striking the man in the chest, Hicks said.
he man has been identified by police, but his name was not released by police.
He was taken to York Hospital where his condition was unknown. He was responsive on scene, the trooper said.
“It looks like at this point like his intentions were to take prescription medication,” Hicks said.
“It’s a very scary situation for everyone involved,” Hicks said. “Thank God no one else was hurt.”No one else was injured.
The trooper who shot the man will be put on administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting, Hicks said.
One witness, Roni Zentz, said she was sitting on a bench inside near the pharmacy, checking her phone.
That’s when she saw a man yelling at the store’s pharmacy employees. The man was cradling a black garbage bag, she said.
Zentz said she saw the man pull the bag back and she saw what looked like a shotgun. She said to someone to call security and then heard two shots ring out in the store, one right after the other.
She yelled out, “run!”
“I ran through the garden section,” Zentz said.
Zentz said the man had been shot near the doorway and that she later saw him taken into an ambulance.
Police are still investigating, according to the PSP news release.
At about 9 p.m., District Attorney Tom Kearney was seen leaving the inside of the Wal-Mart. He said he was there for his own report in the investigation, but did not comment further.
*This article is part of a content-sharing partnership between WITF and the York Daily Record.
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