Deputies: Clerk stabs robber in self defense, robber at large

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Hillsborough County deputies are searching for a robber with stab wounds after the man got into a fight with a gas station clerk near Bearss Avenue and 22nd Street early Sunday.

According to deputies, an unidentified man came into the Sunoco here and demanded money from the clerk inside.

Clerk Jamie Kenney told FOX 13 exclusively that the man is a regular customer. Kenney says he felf comfortable having a converstation with the man until he began to demand money.

Kenney says he was going to hand the robber cash, but the robber thought he was going for a bat, which prompted the robber to grab the bat and threaten Kenney.

Kenney says he pulled out a knife in self defense. During the fight he says the robber picked up a bread knife in a kitchen area of the convenience store.

"He was a very powerful man much larger than me. He gained control of the bat and the only thing I had that could equalize the situation was my work knife," said Kenney.

According to Kenney he struggled with the robber for several seconds and was able to stab him multiple times. Kenney suffered minor injuries.

"I didn't want to harm him at all. That wasn't the goal. It was to disable to disarm and get out," said Kenney.

Deputies say they thought the robber would turn up in a hospital for treatment, but he hasn't yet.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.