Store Clerk Shots, Kills Man Allegedly Stealing Beer

A Houston convenience store clerk shot and killed a man for stealing several 12-packs of beer. (ABC News)

A Houston man paid the ultimate price for theft this week after he allegedly tried to steal beer from a convenience store, prompting the clerk to shoot and kill him.

Little is known about the victim other than that his name was Troy Vector, according to ABC station KTRK-TV in Houston, but store clerks told reporters that he was trying to steal several 12-packs of beer on Thursday night.

Rector was 52, and the Lone Star Grocery and Gas clerk was 19, according to KHOU-TV, a CBS affiliate in Houston.

ABC News

A Houston convenience store clerk shot and... View Full Size

ABC News

A Houston convenience store clerk shot and killed a man for stealing several 12-packs of beer.

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M.D. Nasimuzzaman, a coworker at the store, told KTRK-TV that the clerk who was on duty Thursday night was not aiming at the alleged robber when he fired his gun.

"He did not want to kill him," Nasimuzzaman. "He just shoot into the sky."

He said Rector had stolen beer in the past and the clerk who was on duty told him that the man became aggressive this time around, going so far as to challenge the clerk to a fight.

Although most of the details are unclear, Sheemeka Brown said she found Rector's body outside in the grass, but there was no weapon beside it.

"They could have said, 'just put the beer down' and let him walk out the store," Brown told ABC13. "They didn't have to shoot the man."

The 19-year-old clerk who shot Rector had not been arrested as of Friday because police referred the case to a grand jury, according to KTRK-TV. It is not clear whether he would be charged.