WESTMINSTER : Patron Shot in Face in Botched Robbery

An armed robber held up a convenience store Wednesday, attempted to kidnap an employee and then shot a customer in the face before being arrested by police, authorities said.

The wounded customer, Douglas Bethel, 36, was treated and released from a local hospital. Police said they could not provide details of the Westminster man’s injuries.

Minutes after the shooting inside the 7-Eleven store in the 6500 block of Westminster Boulevard, police arrested Manuel Lopez Calderon, 26, of Westminster on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery and attempted kidnaping. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail in Orange County Jail.

Sgt. Tom Pixler said the incident occurred around 1:45 a.m. when a robber entered the store and pointed a handgun at a cashier.

“He forced the clerk to give him all the money” in the cash register, Pixler said.

Pixler said a customer entered the store as the gunman was forcing the cashier into a back room.

The store manager, who asked not to be named, said the robber then “pointed his gun at the customer and asked him for his money . . . but the customer thought it was a joke.”

The gunman then shot the customer, police said.

Clutching a grocery bag containing the money, police said, the man left the store and entered a Mercedes-Benz parked in front of the store.

“He could not get it started,” Pixler said. “So he took out a radio and a purse.”

As he stepped out of the car, the robber could not find the bag with the money and went back inside the store, according to police. By then police had been called and Calderon was taken into custody.