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North Side clerk fights back
Man fires at, nabs robbery suspect
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Bruce Cadwallader and Matthew Marx
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Columbus police said the robber made two mistakes yesterday:
He chose a convenience store with an armed clerk, and he brought a pellet gun to a gunfight.
The weapon looked real to the clerk, who emptied a revolver in a "shootout'' with the suspect -- and then pummeled him with the gun.
"I had no clue,'' clerk Nisar Ahmed said last night at the Quick & Easy Mart, 4197 Cleveland Ave., about 10 hours after the man tried to rob his family's North Side business.
"I hit him on top of the head with the butt of my gun. He told me, 'Leave me alone,' '' Ahmed said. "I hit him about five to seven times.''
As for the suspect, John G. Henry, 34, police said he was lucky to be alive.
"If he pointed anything at the clerk in a robbery, he (the clerk) didn't have to wait to see if it was a real gun or not,'' Sgt. Doug Williams said.
Ahmed said that shortly after 9 a.m. a man came into the store and filled out an Ohio Lottery card. After other customers had left, the man came to the register.
"When I try to give him the lottery ticket and take the money, he pulled the gun on me,'' Ahmed said.
He gave the robber the cash and lay on the carpet as ordered while the man fled.
But Ahmed didn't take the crime lying down. He could see on the store's TV monitor that the man was running to a getaway car. So he grabbed his own gun and gave chase. He exchanged shots with the robber in the parking lot, shooting out the rear window of the car.
Neither Ahmed nor the gunman was shot.
"I was protecting myself. What am I supposed to do?'' said the 30-year-old Pakistani immigrant, who moved to Columbus from New York City in 1995. "If he gets away with the money, they will come back the next day. If my time has come, then my time has come.''
The store has been the scene of at least four robberies and shootings since 1992, including a fatal one in 2000. Shortly afterward the clerks armed themselves, Ahmed said.
Yesterday was the first robbery attempt since then.
After he ran out of bullets, Ahmed and two unidentified customers fell on the suspect, who had exhausted his supply of pellets.
Ahmed, who lives on the West Side, said he was hitting the man and dialing 911 on his cellphone at the same time.
"I saw it right after two of them got him down. They were pistol-whipping him,'' said Howard Kirk, a city refuse driver.
A bloodstain and a New York Yankees cap Henry had been wearing marked the scene. The pellet gun was found nearby.
Henry was treated for head injuries at Riverside Methodist Hospital. Police charged him with one count of robbery but planned to show his picture to victims in a dozen recent armed robberies.
"His physical description and car are consistent with a robbery in Delaware County a week ago Sunday, and we had one on Monday,'' said Columbus detective Don Junk.
State records show Henry was released from prison March 3 after serving nine years for robbery and felonious assault.
Ahmed said his family bought the store in 1999. It was the Convenient Plus Food Mart on Dec. 7, 2000, when a robber shot and killed Abdul Hemeed, who was there helping a friend. Hemeed, also an immigrant from Pakistan, was stocking shelves in a cooler when one of two robbers noticed him, opened the glass door and shot him through the beverage rack.
The crime remains unsolved.
"I don't know why people do this,'' Ahmed said.
Man fires at, nabs robbery suspect
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Bruce Cadwallader and Matthew Marx
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Columbus police said the robber made two mistakes yesterday:
He chose a convenience store with an armed clerk, and he brought a pellet gun to a gunfight.
The weapon looked real to the clerk, who emptied a revolver in a "shootout'' with the suspect -- and then pummeled him with the gun.
"I had no clue,'' clerk Nisar Ahmed said last night at the Quick & Easy Mart, 4197 Cleveland Ave., about 10 hours after the man tried to rob his family's North Side business.
"I hit him on top of the head with the butt of my gun. He told me, 'Leave me alone,' '' Ahmed said. "I hit him about five to seven times.''
As for the suspect, John G. Henry, 34, police said he was lucky to be alive.
"If he pointed anything at the clerk in a robbery, he (the clerk) didn't have to wait to see if it was a real gun or not,'' Sgt. Doug Williams said.
Ahmed said that shortly after 9 a.m. a man came into the store and filled out an Ohio Lottery card. After other customers had left, the man came to the register.
"When I try to give him the lottery ticket and take the money, he pulled the gun on me,'' Ahmed said.
He gave the robber the cash and lay on the carpet as ordered while the man fled.
But Ahmed didn't take the crime lying down. He could see on the store's TV monitor that the man was running to a getaway car. So he grabbed his own gun and gave chase. He exchanged shots with the robber in the parking lot, shooting out the rear window of the car.
Neither Ahmed nor the gunman was shot.
"I was protecting myself. What am I supposed to do?'' said the 30-year-old Pakistani immigrant, who moved to Columbus from New York City in 1995. "If he gets away with the money, they will come back the next day. If my time has come, then my time has come.''
The store has been the scene of at least four robberies and shootings since 1992, including a fatal one in 2000. Shortly afterward the clerks armed themselves, Ahmed said.
Yesterday was the first robbery attempt since then.
After he ran out of bullets, Ahmed and two unidentified customers fell on the suspect, who had exhausted his supply of pellets.
Ahmed, who lives on the West Side, said he was hitting the man and dialing 911 on his cellphone at the same time.
"I saw it right after two of them got him down. They were pistol-whipping him,'' said Howard Kirk, a city refuse driver.
A bloodstain and a New York Yankees cap Henry had been wearing marked the scene. The pellet gun was found nearby.
Henry was treated for head injuries at Riverside Methodist Hospital. Police charged him with one count of robbery but planned to show his picture to victims in a dozen recent armed robberies.
"His physical description and car are consistent with a robbery in Delaware County a week ago Sunday, and we had one on Monday,'' said Columbus detective Don Junk.
State records show Henry was released from prison March 3 after serving nine years for robbery and felonious assault.
Ahmed said his family bought the store in 1999. It was the Convenient Plus Food Mart on Dec. 7, 2000, when a robber shot and killed Abdul Hemeed, who was there helping a friend. Hemeed, also an immigrant from Pakistan, was stocking shelves in a cooler when one of two robbers noticed him, opened the glass door and shot him through the beverage rack.
The crime remains unsolved.
"I don't know why people do this,'' Ahmed said.