Indian student shot dead in US during robbery at store

Houston, Dec 26 (PTI) A 22-year-old Indian hailing
from Andhra Pradesh was shot dead early on Christmas morning
during a robbery at a convenience store where he was working
part time as a clerk.
Jayachandra Elaprolu was shot five times and was found
dead when the police arrived on to the scene.
The tragic incident occurred in Pasadena county of
California state on early Christmas morning.
Police said they are now seeking at least two suspects
in the shooting death, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Elaprolu was a student and was working at the
convenience store part time.
Ali Kahn, a manager at the store said Elaprolu was
from India and had been working at the store for less than a
month.
A video of the CCTV footage obtained by the police
showed a man in a ski mask entering the Conoco gas station at
about 2:20 am (local time), before shooting the clerk and
taking away the cash register.
Pasadena police spokesman Bud Corbett said the victim
was shot five times.
Police distributed surveillance video from the store
to local media outlets in an attempt to find witnesses, the
paper said.
As the assailant confronted him, Elaprolu managed to
get behind a door that led to a small office behind the
counter, but he appears to have been shot through the door,
according to police.
Media reports said Elaprolu was studying computers at
college and had been working at the gas station for only three
weeks.
Corbett said investigators were surprised by the
ferocity of the gunman who appears to walk in with a 9 mm
semiautomatic pistol in hand and starts shooting.
"To actually see the suspect enter a store and engage
in gunfire is a unique circumstance... He's a very violent
individual, and the sooner we apprehend him, the better," he
said.
While the shooter is described as a 5 feet 10 inches
to 6 feet tall man between 220 and 250 pounds, police have
named another person who was seen leaving the store seconds
before the shooting incident.
Police said the second man, who did not appear to be
having a weapon, could either be an accomplice of the attacker
or a witness to the case.
The video showed the gunman pulling the cash register
off the counter and hauling it out, snapping an attached cord
as he left.
A woman who entered the store about a minute and half
after the incident found the clerk hit by bullets and she
called the police. PTI WAJ
HMI