Arizona store shootout ends with robber, bystander dead

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — A man robbing a gas station convenience store fatally shot a bystander before being killed in a wild shootout with another bystander, police in suburban Phoenix said Friday morning.

The suspect in the robbery was also believed to have pulled off two holdups at gas station convenience stores earlier in the night.

Scottsdale Police Sgt. Ben Hoster said the gunfire erupted at about 2:40 a.m. when a man attempted to rob a Circle K store.

“He fired several rounds at the clerk during the robbery when he was obtaining money,” Hoster said. The gunman fatally shot another man in the store, who Hoster called an innocent bystander. The clerk managed to escape out the back of the store without injuries, police said.

Another bystander then shot at the suspect and both exchanged gunfire, Hoster said. The suspect was killed at the scene and the bystander was injured, he said.

None of the people involved in the shooting, nor the store clerk, were immediately identified.

Detectives believe the suspect robbed two other Circle K locations earlier that night and into the morning in Scottsdale at 11:45 p.m. and in Mesa around 2:15 a.m., Hoster said. No injuries were reported at either location