Police are looking for an armed suspect who attempted to rob a Wicker Park gas station Thursday before being scared off by a fast-thinking store clerk.
Omar Breton, 32, was working behind the counter at the Shell gas station located at 1950 W. Division when an unidentified man dressed in a reflective traffic vest came in and asked for a tissue.
“He tried to cover his face with the tissue,” Breton told NBC 5. “And then he told me to give him the money.”
After nervously fumbling with the cash register, Breton said the intruder threatened to shoot him if he tried to do anything “stupid”.
“[I had to] try something,” Breton said. “I was in danger and had to act for my life.”
That is when Breton quickly pushed a standing cooler full of drinks into the scrambling suspect, who fired an errant bullet in response before running out of the station.
Gasper Gomez, owner of the longstanding Shell station, expressed relief that no one was injured.
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“[The burglar] got scared, he ran out and that was the end of it,” Gomez said. “My hero was Omar for doing what he did.”
Police said the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
