After a convenience store clerk confronted two teenage boys and then collapsed due to a medical emergency Saturday, the teens not only didn't call 911 — but surveillance video also showed one kid apparently taking money from the stricken clerk's hand before the pair stole from the cash register, KCPQ-TV reported.
Now the clerk — who has a stay-at-home wife and three children — is on life support, KOMO-TV said. And the culprits? Police said they've been identified but are still on the loose.
Video showed one of the teens grabbing and then eating a pepperoni stick just after walking into the Auburn, Washington, store around 5:30 p.m. — and then taking another stick and giving it to the other teen, KCPQ said.
A man — who police later determined wasn't with the teens — approached the counter to buy an item, and the station said the clerk appeared to charge the man for the pepperoni sticks.
An argument ensued, KCPQ said, and one of the teens handed the clerk a dollar. The angry clerk then apparently left his spot behind the counter and confronted the teens on the main floor, KOMO reported.
Image source: KCPQ-TV video screenshot
The clerk then collapsed into a display after the exchange due to an apparent medical emergency, the station said.
Image source: KCPQ-TV video screenshot
But rather than calling 911, one of the teens was seen on video reaching down and taking back the dollar bill from the clerk, KCPQ said — apparently right from his hand.
Image source: KCPQ-TV video screenshot
Image source: KCPQ-TV video screenshot
The adult male left the store, the station added.
“While the clerk is on the ground unconscious, the two teenage males exit and enter the store a couple of times stealing merchandise and taking all the money from the cash register,” police said on Facebook, KCPQ reported. “While the clerk was on the ground dying, neither of the three subjects who saw him fall to the ground called for help.”
Image source: KCPQ-TV video screenshot
Store manager Angela Sharapova told KOMO the teens stole $178 from the register while the clerk was "on the floor in agony."
After three minutes elapsed, another customer entered the store, found the clerk, told people at the gas pumps to call 911, and then rushed back into the store to perform CPR, she told KOMO.
"I don't know who these people are," Sharapova told the station, "but they are the true angels."
Police said they identified the teens in the video but haven't apprehended them yet.
The clerk was taken to a hospital where he's on life support, KOMO said.
"It just breaks our hearts," Sharapova told the station. "Now this guy is fighting for his life. He has three little children. He has a stay-at-home wife. We just pray to God that he makes it."
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family of the clerk, Zarif Kelada.
(H/T: Blue Lives Matter)
