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Three males in Washington state are seen on camera ignoring a store clerk who collapsed in front of them from an apparent medical issue, with the two young ones choosing instead to step around him to rob the store.
Police in Auburn, Washington, are searching for the two young males who appear to be teenagers plus an adult man who came into the store with them prior to the incident on Saturday evening, authorities said.
The unidentified clerk is in critical condition at a hospital fighting for his life, authorities said. The man suffered a heart attack, according to ABC affiliate KOMO in Seattle.
Store manager Angela Sharapova told KOMO that the teens ran away with $178. “It just breaks our hearts,” she said. “We just pray to God that he makes it.”
The incident began at approximately 5:41 p.m. on Saturday, Auburn police said. It began with one of the young male, who appears to be a teenager, picking up a pepperoni stick from the counter and handing a second one to the other young male, the store’s security camera shows.
When the older man who entered the store with them then attempts to pay for a different item, the clerk appears to want to charge him also for the two pepperoni sticks, and an argument ensues, KOMO reported.
The young male who initially grabbed the pepperoni stick then hands the clerk a $1 bill, after which the clerk walks around the counter to confront both young males. He then starts to go back around the counter to the register, but falls over into a shelf of water bottles and then to the floor, the video shows.
One of the young males is then seen reaching down to take back his dollar bill from near the collapsed clerk.
The older man leaves the store, with the second young male exiting shortly after. The first young male meanwhile jumps over the counter. He is seen apparently taking something from the back counter before running out of the store. Both of the young males are seen entering the store twice more, and in their last trip they appear to take money from the register.
The clerk is on life support at an Auburn hospital, KOMO reported.
The Auburn Police Department is seeking the community’s help in identifying the three males seen in the store at the time of the incident, and is asking that people with information call the police tip line at 253-288-7403.