HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A convenience store clerk was shot Monday morning during a robbery at a 7-Eleven in southwest Miami-Dade County, authorities said.
Detective Lee Cowart, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, said an armed man entered the store at Southwest 268th Street and Southwest 137th Avenue just before 11 a.m. and demanded money from the clerk, Cherish Juarez.
When Juarez, 31, backed away in fear, the man shot her, Cowart said.
"She went to go change the coffee containers when she saw the man come in. And she went for the refrigerator -- she went to go hide in the refrigerator," the victim's daughter, Martha Figueroa, told Local 10 News.
Figueroa said while her mother was hiding, the man walked up and confronted Juarez behind the counter.
Scared and injured, Juarez ran to an office in the back to try to get away, but the suspect followed her.
"The guy went to the back and the manager at the time -- he was there -- and he tried to fight the gun off the man," Figueroa said.
Police said the gunman eventually ran out of the store and employees rushed to help their injured co-worker. The gunman left with undisclosed amount of cash, Cowart said.
"She put pressure and stuff, but she was in shock," Figueroa said. "She didn't know what to do."
Juarez was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where she is listed in stable condition and is expected to recover.
Police described the gunman as being in his early 20s with a medium build and short hair.
Anyone with further details about the shooting is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.