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Search On For Suspect After Store Employee Shot During Robbery In Brooklyn

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are investigating after a store clerk was shot during a robbery in Brooklyn.

It happened just before midnight at a smoke shop on Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge.

Police say a 38-year-old store employee was shot in the stomach during a robbery.

"'Give me the money, give me the money,'" the store's owner, Mohammed Suleiman, said. "When the employee handed him the money, he takes the money and then shot him."

The suspect then took off on foot.

"In and out basically," Suleiman said.

The man was rushed to the hospital in stable condition. Suleiman said he doesn't understand why the suspect had to fire a shot.

"The employee handed him the money, he takes the money and then he shot him," he said. "Cold hearted. If you've got the money already, why would you have to shoot the guy, my employee? No reason."

Police closed off a section of the sidewalk for hours into the early morning looking for clues, CBS2's Marc Liverman reported.

It's unclear how much cash the suspect got away with. Investigators say the suspect was wearing a ski mask.

"No face, nothing," said Suleiman. "The only thing we could see was his eyes."

An employee at a jewelry store next door, Mazen Elesayi, is now on high alert just hoping the suspect doesn't come back.

"It might happen to us, happen to anybody," said Elesayi.

The owner said the employee had only been working at the store for a couple of weeks.

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