Employee shot in Family Dollar holdup

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - An armed robbery at a Family Dollar store Tuesday ended with an employee shot and officers hunting for the suspects, Albuquerque police are reporting.

The shooting happened just before 3 p.m. at the store at 5950 Gibson Blvd. SE east of San Pedro Drive.

Police said two people attempting to hold up the store both pulled guns and ordered an employee to open the safe.  The new employee, however, didn't know how to open a cash drawer without making a transaction.

"It appears that because he was unable to open the door, they became angry, frustrated and fired one round," Officer Robert Gibbs of the Albuquerque Police Department said.

Police said the employee was shot once in the leg and is expected to recover from the wound

The robbers hid under hoodies and behind dark glasses, and police said they consider the pair to be armed and dangerous.

They fled the store on foot, and police were searching a neighborhood south of the store.

"Usually, though, they try to get out of the area as quick as possible rather than staying in the area and compounding the issue, something that attracts attention to themselves," Gibbs said.

This is the second botched armed robbery to end in gunfire in recent days.  On Friday the clerk at a smoke shop on Sage Road SE pulled his own pistol and shot two would-be robbers , one of them fatally, police said.