By TOM MURSE and JOHN M. HOOBER III, Staff
Manheim officer Steve Watson marks as evidence this TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun. It was found near a
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Manheim police Chief Barry Weidman inspects a baseball cap left behind by a robbery suspect near the P
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The battery regeneration firm, at 210 S. Penn St. in Manheim, is pictured here after the botched robbery.
Two would-be robbers, apparently lying in wait before daybreak, picked on the wrong victim in Manheim early today.
One suspect, a 19-year-old Lancaster city man, was shot in the chest and died hours later at a local hospital.
The other fled on foot — without any loot — and is still at large.
Police did not identify any of the men.
The botched holdup occurred just after 5 this morning when two masked men dressed in black followed the operations manager of Power Pro Battery Company into his office at 210 S. Penn St., police said.
Manheim robber shotKnowing he was about to be robbed, the manager pulled out his own handgun, turned and fired twice, hitting one of the suspects in the wrist and chest just inside the front door of the building, police said.
The worker, whose name has not yet been released by police, then called his boss, John Roads.
"John, they tried to rob me," he said. "I shot somebody."
Both suspects fled east on foot, but the wounded robber collapsed about 400 yards away on West Stiegel Street, bleeding profusely from his chest.
Manheim Borough Police received word at 10:30 a.m. that the wounded robbery suspect had died. They did not release his name.
Police found a loaded TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun — a weapon that is rare yet increasing in popularity among criminals — nearby.
They also found baseball caps and a bandana, apparently worn by the two suspects.
Police were questioning the Power Pro Battery employee, whom they labeled a victim, this morning. They were also interviewing several other workers there.
"The victim has indicated to us that he acted in self-defense," Manheim Borough Police Chief Barry Weidman said.
"At this point it appears to be a robbery gone bad. We have no indication that it is any more than an attempted robbery."
Police marked off numerous pieces of evidence along the street early this morning. The southern end of Manheim is home to several businesses and several homes, as well as an elementary school, H.C. Burgard.
Bill Butler, 41, a resident of the 200 block of West Stiegel Street near the battery firm, said he was getting ready for work when he heard two gunshots. He looked out his guest-room window and saw two darkly dressed men running.
"I saw these two guys running about 20 feet apart," said Butler. "They were both dressed in black. One guy was behind the other, and he was going slower, and he was saying, 'Help me, he shot me.'"
Butler dialed 911.
Medical crews were dispatched to West Stiegel and Cherry streets at 5:25 a.m. Butler, a former Army medic who worked on an ambulance crew in West Virginia for 12 years, walked outside to help the wounded man.
"He had a sucking chest wound," said Butler.
Butler rode along with the Manheim Ambulance crew to Lancaster General Hospital. He said he held the wounded man's gloves over his wounds.
"He was conscious but fading. He said, 'I can't breathe,' and at one point he asked for his mother," said Butler. "It's something I've never seen before around here. I felt like I was back in the ambulance service."
Butler said the second robber fled north, through a brushy area between a building and parked trailers along the north side of West Stiegel Street.
Police launched a canine search but had not found the second suspect as of late this morning.
Roads said his worker, who was being questioned by borough police, had a license to carry the weapon. Police confirmed that.
Roads said the suspects were likely looking for cash and lying in wait for the operations manager to show up for work.
The company employs 14 people, including a team of drivers who carry cash to local junkyards to buy batteries. The firm reconditions the batteries for resale. Roads said employees for the firm have been robbed at least five times in its 10 years of existence.
The operations manager arrived for work shortly after 5 a.m. and parked his navy blue Chevrolet Avalanche along West Stiegel Street about 50 yards from Power Pro Battery.
Roads said the worker, sensing he was about to be robbed, intentionally left the business security system on so that it would trigger an alarm when the robbers entered. It did, and police were dispatched.
Roads added that there are surveillance cameras inside and outside the business, and that authorities are reviewing tapes.
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