Customer shot, killed suspected robber at Gaston County store

MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. (WBTV) – A man died after he was shot while attempting to rob a convenience store in Gaston County earlier this week.

The shooting happened Tuesday night at Will’s Food Store on Hickory Grove Road in Mount Holly, Gaston County Police said.

The man, Victor Almodovar Jr., allegedly entered the store with a gun and demanded money from the cashier. A customer who was also inside the store shot Almodovar. He was taken to the hospital, where he died.

Police said nobody else was hurt and the customer was not arrested.

Shortly after the shooting, the customer’s mother came to the store and said he drove away after the shooting. Others called him a hero.

“The guy that saved her and the customers…he wouldn’t have hurt anybody, but he saved people,” one woman said. “Whatever [Almodovar’s] intentions were was robbing somebody and try to get away.”

Police are continuing to investigate the shooting and ask anyone with information to contact Detective M. Rheinson at 704-866-3320, or Crimestoppers at 704-861-8000.