Elderly clerk in liquor store kills assailant
By JOE ATKINSON Courier & Press staff writer 464-7450 or
[email protected]
November 9, 2003
A Tell City, Ind., man died early Friday morning after attempting to rob an Evansville convenience store.
Police said Charles Dale, 31, walked into Kwik Stop Liquor, 932 W. Columbia St., and started "beating on" an elderly female clerk. As he assaulted her, he allegedly demanded money from the register.
"In defense, she fired a gun that she had on her," said Evansville Police Detective Kevin Mason. "He was hit more than once, (and) she was hit once - she thinks she shot herself, (because) she was trying to fend him off, and he was still beating on her when she was trying to shoot him."
The woman, whose name was not released, had a permit to carry the gun, Mason said.
After the shooting, Dale fled the store with some cash and two bottles of liquor. A passer-by saw him leaving, and went into the store to check on the clerk. When he found her bleeding on the floor, he called 911.
The clerk was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, where she remained in serious condition Saturday.
Along with the gunshot wound, she had several bruises from the assault, Mason said.
"He was a pretty good-sized guy - about 6-feet, 1-inch and 240 (pounds)," Mason said. "And, here, she's 60-something years old and not real big - he did a number on her."
Meanwhile, Officer Keith Smith and his K-9 partner, Kolja, were called to track the suspect. They followed his track out behind the store, where he lay in the alley with the stolen cash and liquor spread out around him.
"An ambulance was called," Mason said, "and they transported him to Deaconess (Hospital), where he was pronounced dead."
Police said the investigation is continuing, and a case file likely will be sent to Prosecutor Stan Levco.
He then will decide whether to pursue any charges in the shooting.
Journalistic filler material? Just writing down what the po-po told them?
