Robbers Take Beer, Shoot Clerk at Store

A Walnut convenience store clerk was shot Saturday during an early morning robbery in which the suspects took a 12-pack of beer, authorities said.

Amarinder Singh, 21, of La Puente, was wounded in the right arm and the bullet lodged in his rib cage just beneath the skin, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Langgle.

Singh was taken to Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina and released later in the morning, said Naginder Singh, the victim’s uncle.

“He’s very lucky,” said Naginder Singh, whose family the victim has lived with since leaving his native India in 1985.

The shooting has left everybody in the family “scared,” the uncle said, and they expect that Amarinder Singh will be recovering at home for at least a month. “It’s a very big wound,” Naginder Singh said.

Singh, a La Puente Adult High School student, was wounded after a man, who appeared to be in his early 20s, entered the Super C Market and took a 12-pack of beer without paying for it, Langgle said.

As Singh headed for the door, a second suspect entered the doorway and asked him if he was going to call police, Langgle said.

“The clerk replied, ‘Yes,”’ Langgle said. “And as he turned back toward the counter, a third suspect, who stood in the doorway, fired a single shot which struck him in the right arm.

“He did not appear too seriously injured, but it was a flesh wound,” Langgle added.

The three men drove away in a red Ford pickup truck with chrome wheel rims, a white stripe on the side and a camper shell, Langgle said.

Singh reported the robbery to his employer, who notified sheriff’s deputies. The victim described the second suspect as also being in his early 20s, but told authorities that he did not see the third man who fired at him, Langgle said.