EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — A suspect has died and another is on the run after an attempted robbery at an East Hartford business, where the store clerk fought back after being shot by one of the suspects.
Two people entered Humble & Paid Co. on 1285 Main Street around 10:30 p.m. Thursday with the intention to rob the store, according to police.
There was a brief struggle between the store clerk and one of the suspects who took out a firearm and shot the clerk in the back, according to police. The clerk returned fire with two of his legally registered firearms, striking one of the suspects several times, police said.
The injured suspect was provided life-saving measures when police arrived on the scene until an ambulance took the suspect to the hospital.
The suspect, identified as Jashar Haslam, 26 years old from Hartford, was pronounced dead.
The store clerk was treated on scene for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the lower back and was later taken to the hospital.
Navdeep Singh, the manager of Bruno's Liquor said he saw the police presence Thursday night.
"Came in and saw the cops here and I was just really hoping nothing happened to him," said Singh.
Singh told FOX61 he was surprised this happened since it is usually a quiet area.
"It’s a very decent area, don’t get me wrong besides from this. This is like the first time that I know anything like this happened here," added Singh.
Luckily, police always patrol Downtown East Hartford so they were able to respond to the scene within minutes.
"It’s our Downtown East Hartford area, so it’s probably the most densely populated area. It’s a high-traffic area," said Officer Marc Caruso of the East Hartford Police Department.
The second suspect reportedly ran out of the building and has not yet been located.
Carmen Chau is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at cchau@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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