Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
TAYLORSVILLE -- Two masked robbers with guns barged into a convenience store in Taylorsville overnight. The clerk also had a gun, and the robbery turned into a gunfight as the robbers escaped.
Police say nine shots were fired in the robbery-turned-shootout, and amazingly no was hurt.
The two robbers stormed the Quik Pik Market in Taylorsville Thursday night around 11:00. The men were armed with guns and dressed in black sweatshirts, jeans and masks. They yelled and demanded money from the register.
On surveillance video, they can be heard saying, "Give me the money! Hurry up! Hurry up! [Expletive] open the cash register homeboy! Open the cash register! Hurry up!"
The store's owner watched as one robber grabbed the cash. The other hit up a mother and son who were hunkered down in a corner.
"They told us to duck down in the corner and pointed a gun at us to make sure we weren't moving," Zachery Dunn said. "They said, ‘You got any money?' And we said, ‘No.'"
"They had guns pulled out pointing at us and said, ‘Give us the cash!'" store owner Pritpal Singh Tib recalled, "I cooperated fully, and I just stood here facing the wall as the instructed me."
The robbers grabbed the cash and a package of donuts on the way out. As the they ran out of the store, Singh Tib grabbed his gun from under the counter and chased after them.
"They started firing at me and fired like five or six rounds, and I fired back," Tib said.
Taylorsville Police Sgt. Cory Snodgrass said, "Both armed with handguns. They meant business, so I wouldn't recommend clerk's action."
The robbers were long gone by the time police arrived. Officers searched the area with police dogs but came up empty-handed.
Investigators combed the store's surveillance video for clues and say the thieves could be responsible for robberies committed recently in West Jordan, West Valley, Murray and Taylorsville.
Police want them caught.
"I think this one takes on a little extra emphasis because they're armed, how aggressive they are, the fact they are firing shots. Yeah, we need to catch these guys and get them off the street," Snodgrass said.
The Taylorsville Police Department is working with other agencies, but detectives need the public's help. If you know anything or recognize the voices in the video, contact Taylorsville police at 801-743-7000.
------
Story written with contributions from Courtney Orton, Andrew Adams and Anne Forester.
---
