TUKWILA, Wash. — An armed robbery suspect was caught on camera firing several shots inside a Tukwila gas station and threatening the store clerk's life early Friday morning.
The armed robbery happened at a 76 gas station along the 13300 block of Interurban Avenue South near Interstate 5. Surveillance video captured a masked suspect entering the store and immediately firing two shots inside.
Jesse Hagar, the store clerk working at the time, recounted what unfolded after the suspect entered the store.
"All of a sudden the door slammed wide open and this guy starts shouting out to me with a gun," Hagar said. "(He) fired it. That was the first thing that startled me so I was naturally frozen in fear."
Hagar said the suspect threatened his life before he ran off with the money. He fired three shots during the robbery, according to Hagar.
"I was so struck with fear," Hagar said. "My head was down most of the time. I didn't really get a chance to look at his face. I was just being as submissive as I could. I honestly felt at one point I was gonna lose my life because he kept saying, 'I should shoot you. I should shoot you.' I thought, 'This is it' (and) a peace went over me. I went OK, what else can I do?"
Hagar said he is still processing what happened this morning.
"I didn't know it was gonna happen to me tonight," Hagar said. "It scared the crap out of me but I felt I handled the situation really well, which was very calm. It just wasn't worth my life."
Surveillance video from outside the gas station captured the suspect's car before he entered the store. Police said it is a dark-colored sedan.
The owner of the store told KING 5 it's been years since the gas station was robbed.
The Tukwila Police Department is working with the store in this case. Police urged the public to call (206) 431-3689 if they have any information that could help in the investigation.