Smoke shop store clerk pistol whipped during armed robbery

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A terrifying night for one store clerk who was pistol whipped and robbed at gunpoint while just trying to do his job.

It happened around 2:30am this morning at the Houston 420 Smoke Shop in the 12,000 block of Hempstead.

Store clerk Ramon Simmons says three to four men barged into the store with masks covering part of their faces and guns drawn. They wrapped his hands in duct tape and demanded cash.

When Simmons couldn't get the cash to them, they hit him in the head four times with the back of a gun. They also started breaking display cases and stealing things from inside the shop.

Simmons isn't only stunned, he's angry.

"This is uncalled for. You come in here and threaten people with violence, deadly force for stuff that you don't got any money to buy," Simmons said.

He also has some advice for the robbers.

"Get a job," said Simmons.

Simmons says this is the second time one of these shops has been robbed in the past three weeks.

The shop does have surveillance video and police plan to review it. Officers are also asking anyone who may have seen something suspicious in that area to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.