UPDATE: NBC10 obtained surveillance video of the shooting. New details HERE.
The 14-year-old son of a pizza shop employee shot one of three would-be robbers in the face after he started choking his mom in Philadelphia, police said
Police arrived at the shop in the Spring Garden neighborhood shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday and noticed a trail of blood that began inside the restaurant and went on for three blocks into the subway station at Broad and Spring Garden streets.
The employee told police three men had entered and demanded money from the cash register, which she told them she couldn’t open because she needed a code.
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Other employees said one of the men tried to reach over the counter and then began choking the woman, prompting her son to pull out a handgun from underneath the counter and shoot the alleged attacker once in the face, according to police.
All three men then ran off.
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Responding officers followed the blood trail to the subway station, where they found the suspect bleeding heavily. Police also found a large amount of cash inside the suspect’s pocket, though they did not find a gun. Investigators are unsure if the suspect was armed during the robbery or if he pretended to have a weapon.
The suspect was taken to Jefferson Hospital, where he is currently in critical condition.
Police said the same suspect was likely involved in another robbery that took place about five minutes prior at a nearby pharmacy on the 400 block of North Broad Street, about two blocks away from the pizza shop. During that incident, three men entered the store and robbed the pharmacy.
Police analyzed surveillance video from inside the pharmacy and determined one of the three suspects matched the description of the suspect who was shot while trying to rob the pizza shop.
Police were interviewing employees inside the pizza shop who are cooperating with the investigation. They also said there were customers inside the shop at the time of the robbery who fled during the shooting. Police were trying to find them in order to speak with more potential witnesses.
