Soft R&B still played quietly over the intercom system as police searched for blood and bullet casings in the parking lot of a Northwest Gainesville gas station Sunday night.
Gainesville Police reported that an attempted gunpoint robbery had gone awry when a clerk pulled out his own gun and shot the man at the Chevron at 3328 W. University Ave.
At about 7:15 p.m., a thin man walked into the Chevron and demanded money, GPD spokeswoman Summer Hallett said.
When the clerk refused, the man pulled out a gun, fired and missed, Hallett said.
The clerk, Cadmus McLarty, 50, then pulled a Caltech .380 handgun out of his pocket and shot the man in the upper chest, Hallett said.
McLarty had a concealed weapons license, she said.
The man turned and fled northeast, firing more shots as he ran out, Hallett said. Police believed he might have made it to a car.
"He's bleeding," Hallett said. "He's going to have to go to a hospital or somewhere."
Police searched the parking lot and woods behind the gas station with flashlights and dogs, putting up small markers when they found any possible evidence. The entire corner was cordoned off with yellow police tape.
Kevin Scharoo, a Santa Fe College freshman who lives two blocks away, came to investigate the scene at the Chevron, where he said he sometimes buys the newspaper.
"We were sitting there and all of a sudden we heard a 'pop-pop,'" Scharoo said.
He said he and his roommate had joked that the noise was a gunshot until he got a call from a friend about police lights flashing on the corner.
The gas station was also held up Saturday night at about 11 p.m., but police don't know if it was the same person, Hallett said
Robberies are not unusual at gas stations open late, she said.
No one had been arrested as of press time.
The suspect was described as a thin, white male with short hair, between 20 and 30 years old. He was wearing a white shirt and black pants, Hallett said.
