GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA – Al Befekadu, an immigrant from Ethiopia, said today he was alone in his Pendleton convenience store when a gunman came in and asked for money.
“Sure,” Befekadu recalled saying, “Give me a second.”
Befekadu said he went into his back office during Wednesday night’s encounter and came out with a handgun — the same one he bought after a previous robbery on July 23.
“I just fired one warning shot, and he just dropped to the ground,” Befekadu said.
After the gunman bolted, Befekadu said he followed outside, fired another shot without aiming and then called the police.
Anderson County sheriff’s deputies are now searching for a suspect in Wednesday’s incident at the Corner Stop at 5630 U.S. 76, according to an incident report. They got the call at 7:53 p.m., the report states.
Befekadu, 54, said he’s a father of three who works 18 hours a day.
He said the gunman got away with money in the July incident but not on Wednesday.
The gunman in Wednesday’s robbery wore a ski mask and was 30-40 years old, according to the incident report. In July, two men between 19 and 23 years old, including one wearing a bandana, were listed as the suspects, according to an incident report.
Two people were arrested in the July incident, but it’s too early to know whether one of them was involved in Wednesday’s robbery, said Susann Griffin, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office.