Off-Duty Fontana Officer Shot in Stomach : Crime: A convenience store where the shooting occurred may have been a robbery target, police say.

An off-duty Fontana police officer was shot in the stomach when he walked out of a local convenience store that may have been targeted for robbery, authorities said Saturday.

The 33-year-old officer, whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives, was in fair condition at an area hospital, Fontana police said.

The shooting took place shortly after 11 p.m. Friday at a Stop & Go Market in the 16800 block of Slover Avenue, police said.

The officer had just finished his shift and was not in uniform when he was shot “without warning” near his car in the store’s parking lot, Detective Fred Flores said.

Although police said the assailant may have been with a group of men intending to rob the store, the officer did not appear to be intervening when he was shot.

“I don’t think he knew what was happening,” Flores said.

Three men, including the gunman, fled the parking lot in a silver car, perhaps a new Toyota Celica, the wounded officer told investigators.

The officer, a three-year veteran, returned fire as the assailants drove off, striking the driver’s side of the car with bullets, police said. Further damage was done to the left side of the car when it struck a steel pole in the parking lot.

Several people along the street and in the store witnessed the shooting, police said.

One of the assailants, possibly the gunman, was described as 5 feet, 9 inches tall; weighing 160 pounds, and having a brown ponytail, Flores said. The man was wearing black overalls and a black sweat jacket. The men were described as in their late teens or early 20s.

Occupants of a second car seen fleeing the parking lot at the time of the shooting were being sought for questioning. Detectives described the car as a late-model, dark-colored two-door Chevrolet Impala.