Business owner kills suspected robber

HOUSTON Harris County sheriff's deputies say 36-year-old Clifford Jerome Thomas, 36, armed with a gun, went into the pawn shop on Louetta near Champion yesterday evening and told the owner he was going to rob him. Thomas fired one shot at the owner and missed. The owner grabbed his handgun and fired four shots at the suspect. He later died at a hospital.

"They were separated by the counter, and the store owner, he just felt like from what this guy was telling him, to kneel down behind the counter and told him he was robbing him, and told him he was going to kill him, he just was going to make it easy and was not going to comply with the instructions of the robbery suspect," said Sgt. Ben Beall with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

The owner of the business was not hurt.

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