Armed patron opens fire on masked convenience store robbers

WENTWORTH, N.C. (AP) — A customer held at gunpoint during a convenience-store robbery in North Carolina interrupted the suspects’ plan by opening fire on them.

A Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office news release said two masked men entered a Reidsville convenience store early on Christmas morning with guns and held the cashier and two patrons at gunpoint while they robbed the store.

The news release says one of the patrons was armed and fired at the suspects. Investigators believe the suspects were hit by the gunfire.

The two men then fled in a getaway car driven by a third person. The customers and clerk weren’t injured.

The sheriff’s office said one of the men has been arrested and charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon. Two other suspects have been identified and are being sought.