Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990 TAG: 9004130977
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: BY LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Eddie Thomas Pritchard, a cashier at the Hop-In store at 931 Gus Nicks Boulevard, was listed in very serious condition this morning at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Pritchard told police that he was alone in the all-night store about 1:38 a.m. when two men came in. One of the men was carrying a small-caliber handgun.
After brandishing the gun inside the store, the man fired several shots - striking Pritchard once in the upper left side, police said.
Both men then took an undetermined amount of money from the store and fled, police said.
When police officers arrived a few minutes later, Pritchard was still on his feet. He told police that he did nothing to provoke the shooting, police said.
Police checked out several possible leads in the early morning hours following the shooting, but no arrests had been made this morning.
The incident marked the latest in a rash of convenience store robberies in Roanoke that have led to violence. One clerk shot and killed an armed robber earlier this year and another fired shots at a fleeing bandit.
Although some clerks have suffered minor injuries in the robberies, the shooting Thursday night was the most serious attack in recent months.
Authorities said today that they were investigating the possibility that the same two robbers were involved in an earlier holdup of another Roanoke convenience store about 9:10 p.m. Thursday.
In that robbery, two men fitting the same basic description entered the Stop-In store at 1605 Hershberger Road. The clerk told police that one of the robbers pointed a large-caliber handgun at her and demanded money. After taking a small amount of cash, the men fled in the direction of Grandview Avenue, police said.
by CNB