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Store clerk, 64, sorry she had to shoot robber

JACKSONVILLE - A hooded gunman may have thought clerk Janet Grammer was an easy mark as he entered a convenience store, fired a handgun and demanded money.

If so, he underestimated the 64-year-old grandmother, who was filling in as a clerk. The former security guard pulled a gun from under the cash register and shot the would-be robber in the chest.

"I think he thought I was an old woman and would just give him the money," Grammer said Friday, recalling Thursday afternoon's shooting at the Apple Gate Food Store. "I thought he was getting ready to shoot me in the head. So, I shot him in the chest. My life was at stake; I thought he was going to kill me."

The alleged gunman, whose name has not been released, was being treated at Shands Jacksonville hospital Friday. Ken Jefferson, a police spokesman, said he faces a robbery charge when he recovers.

Grammer said she was watching the store while the regular clerk kept a doctor's appointment.

The man "came in with a hood over his head, waving his gun and hollering to give him all the money," Grammer said.

"He fired two shots in the back wall. He had the biggest d--- gun I have ever seen." (Police told Grammer later it was a .357-caliber Magnum.)

She grabbed a .38-caliber pistol and fired once.

The man fell to the floor, dropping his gun and his hat. He got up and ran for the door, leaving a trail of blood. Grammer fired two more shots at him.

According to the sheriff's report, a man fitting the description Grammer gave soon showed up at the suburban Orange Park Medical Center with a chest wound. He told doctors he shot himself.

Grammer, a mother of 10 who also has 32 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren, said she had worried she may have wounded him fatally.

"You never want to kill anybody. All I could think about was his poor parents," Grammer said.

Grammer worked 10 years as a security guard in Charleston, S.C. "But I never had to shoot anybody."

"I'm sick over it. It was very upsetting. " ... The good Lord had to be with me."

[Last modified April 16, 2005, 01:21:18]