Female shoots gas station store clerk amid ‘incredibly brazen’ attempted robbery — then strangely leaves empty-handed: Police

A female shot a Maryland gas station store clerk amid an “incredibly brazen” attempted robbery Friday — and then strangely left the store empty-handed, police said.

Howard County Police said officers were called to the Shell gas station in the 7200 block of Cradlerock Way in Columbia around 7:43 p.m. for a report of a shooting.

‘We don’t see incidents like this very often. We have robberies and some thefts in gas stations where somebody may imply a weapon or show a weapon but not use it, and they usually leave with something.’

An adult male gas station employee was transported to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center with serious injuries, police said, adding that the victim was listed in serious condition.

Police released surveillance video Monday and offered a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the suspect.

Police on Tuesday said Shantay Lashay O’Donnell, 46, of Virginia, was identified as the shooter in the attempted robbery.

Police said she was in custody in another state on unrelated charges.

O’Donnell will be served with multiple Howard County charges in the coming days, police said.

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“What we know is that this woman walked into the Shell store, walked around a little bit, and then as soon as she approached the counter, that’s when she took out the gun and fired,” Howard County police spokesman Seth Hoffman told WBAL-TV. “We know that she demanded the clerk to open the cash register, but as you can see, it all unfolded so quickly.”

Hoffman added to the station that the barely 20-second surveillance video shows nearly the entire incident.

Police told WBAL they’re investigating the incident as an attempted robbery and noted that the female in the clip didn’t steal anything.

“We don’t even think that [the clerk] had time [to open the register]. We don’t believe he did,” Hoffman also told the station. “She started shooting and then left without anything.”

Hoffman added to WBAL that “this is incredibly brazen; we don’t see incidents like this very often. We have robberies and some thefts in gas stations where somebody may imply a weapon or show a weapon but not use it, and they usually leave with something. Here, we have somebody who just shot and left with nothing.”

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