Dumb crook alert!

[K Frame]

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A robber's clumsy pursuit of cash left him staring at the barrel of his own shotgun after he set it on the convenience store counter and the clerk snatched it up, officials said.

A surveillance video captured the man in sunglasses and a hooded sweat shirt, stuffing money from the register into his pockets and leaving his gun unattended early Tuesday.

That's when Quail Street News clerk Hafiz Alam grabbed the weapon by the barrel, quickly turned it around and pointed it at the man, who dashed out.

Seconds later, the robber rushed back into the store and leaped over the counter. Alam and the suspect, 22-year-old Justin Walker, struggled over the gun off-camera, authorities said.

The gun went off, but neither man was injured.

The robber drove off, but not before a truck driver took down his license plate number.

Police said they tracked the suspect to an Albany apartment, where they launched tear gas inside and got him to surrender. He was arrested and charged with robbery.

[Manedwolf]

[Perd Hapley]

I remember seeing a video of something very similar, maybe a year ago?  The guy put down the gun, clerk picked it up, and scumbag jumped over the counter.  Old story?  Local morning radio show was talking about it, too. 

[Hawkmoon]

"Shotgun"?

[m1911owner]

Oh well...  I guess if the perp is sprinting out of the store, it's not really cricket to shoot him with his own gun...   

[Perd Hapley]

"Shotgun"?

Mike's story and the video are two different incidents.

[Antibubba]

Given the state in which this happened I'll bet the clerk is looking for work.

[wmenorr67]

Here is one that ranks right up there.

http://www.kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=133473

Burglary Suspects Blow Nearly $500,000 Cash, Police Say

KOTV - 8/9/2007 7:57 PM - Updated 8/10/2007 6:22 AM

A couple in Claremore had the best and worst luck of their lives, all in the span of three months. Police say the couple broke into a small country home and stumbled across a half a million dollars in cash. That was the good. News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports what the couple did next that got them caught, would be the bad.

The couple went on a shopping spree that boggles the mind. They walked into a furniture store and paid $50,000 cash, just peeling off $100 bills, it was the same at three car dealerships, they even bought a house with cash. Claremore police say all the stuff was bought with stolen money.

"They went through just short of a half a million dollars in two and a half months," said Claremore Police Detective John Singer.

Police say greed was 26-year-old Joseph Jones downfall. It was just a matter of time before they got caught because when the couple paid $47,000 cash for a Chevy Avalanche, $37,000 cash for a Nissan Murano and $6,000 for a classic 1968 Chevy pickup they signed IRS paperwork. Then, there's the house, purchased for $214,, all in cash.

"It's unusual to buy a $200,000 plus house with hundred dollar bills," Singer said.

Police say Jones broke into a woman's house, who just happened to have moved out three years earlier, and just happened to have cash socked away everywhere.

"The victim had moved out of the house with relatives, out of the area and hadn't cleaned out the house," said Detective Singer.

Police hope the right legal channels can turn much of Jones purchases back into cash, to be returned to the victim. But, some of the money is gone forever, like the $20,000 each police say Jones gave to some of his buddy and an in-law.

Some of the woman's money was in the form of silver certificates from the 1940s. Police certainly urge everyone to put their money in the bank.