Surveillance Video Released Showing Man Who Fatally Shot 7-Eleven Clerk

Authorities have released surveillance video showing the man accused of fatally shooting a 60-year-old clerk at a store in northwest Indiana earlier this week.

The video shows the terrifying moments inside the store as the suspect, described by police as an “animalistic predator” opens fire, killing 7-Eleven clerk Roger Unton.

Hammond police released the video in hopes that someone recognizes the gunman.

The brutal attack happened just before 4:30 a.m. Wednesday at a convenience store at 6031 Homan Avenue. Police said the suspect walked in, announced the robbery, then killed Unton after the clerk pressed the business’ panic alarm button.

“It was senseless,” said Unton’s wife Patti Unton. “I mean the man walked in with the gun in his hand, he asked, ‘Did you push the button?’ He never gave him a chance to open the drawer. He just shot Roger point blank.”

The suspect fled the scene on foot and remains at large, authorities said.

Investigators recovered a black wig near the scene of the crime and submitted it to the Indiana State Crime Lab for DNA analysis.

Unton, from suburban Chicago, was described as a passionate man who loved life. He was involved with the Sons of the American Legion and loved to garden, his family said.

"People see this all the time," Unton's niece Rebecca Van Auken said. "It's Chicago it happens all the time but what people don't really realize is that 7-Eleven clerk was my uncle and he had all these people who loved him and really cared about him. He called me his sweet pea all the time and I'll always be his sweet pea."

Local resident Laura Malacina said it "broke my heart totally. It's too close to home, just way too close to home. It's very frightening, too close to home. hurts my heart. It's hurts. Its hard for that family, hard for us who live here in the neighborhood that know about this. We've been coming here forever. I live close by when I saw him yesterday, I came and hugged him because he's just that nice."

His wife said he had been working for the midnight shift for the last 10 years.

“[Roger] was a good guy,” Patti Unton said. “He would help anybody. If there was money to had in the drawer, if there was money to be had in the drawer, he would have given it to him.”

She added that she "would like him to come forward, I know he won't. Somebody had to have seen him. Somebody knows him."

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call (219)-852-2981. The store is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the capture of the suspect.

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