Clerk Shot During Robbery at South LA Big Lots Store

A checkout clerk was shot in the abdomen during a struggle with an armed robber at a South LA Big Lots Tuesday afternoon, according to LAPD.

A man came into the store just before 2 p.m. and milled about before attempted to take the till from a cash register, according to police.

"He was in the course of committing the robbery, and perhaps in his mind he was not able to get the money as quickly as he would have liked. She was not attacking him," Det. Jerry Gipson, of the Los Angeles Police Department said

The woman, a 42-year Big Lots employee, was shot at least once in the abdomen.

"She didn't say anything," said Shalon Foster, who ran to the store after hearing the gunshots. "She was just laying down flat. You see the blood, you see the money and that's that. It's sad."

Foster and a second witness said they heard two shots being fired, and that some Good Samaritans attempted to catch the gunman as he fled.

"Two people tried to chase him down but he got in his Cadillac truck so fast went up 58th Street. That was the end of that," Foster added.