Police Release Video From Armed Robbery Of Tulsa Auto Zone

A man working at a Tulsa Auto Zone store was robbed at gunpoint and made a split-second decision to fight back, which police say likely saved his life.

It happened last month, but detectives released the surveillance video Wednesday in hopes of identifying the suspects.

The video shows the clerk walking away from the door, not even seeing the two robbers come running in through the front door to do a take-over style robbery, which is pretty rare and very violent.

It was June 17, around 8:30 in the evening.

6/17/2013 Related Story: Store Manager Held At Gunpoint In Attempted Robbery At North Tulsa Auto Zone

When one robber put the gun to the victim's head, he immediately fought back.

During the commotion, the magazine fell out of the robber's gun, leaving only the one round in the gun's chamber.

"All robberies are violent by nature, but on the level of violence, most robberies are not very intense," said Sgt. Brandon Watkins. "These are extremely intense. This is the type of thing that gives people nightmares the rest of their lives."

Off camera, the robber shoots the victim in the hand, and as the suspect is running out of the store, he points the gun at the victim and pulls the trigger a few more times, clearly thinking he had the additional ammo still in the gun.

"The guy was really, really lucky. You can see as he's walking off, he's trying to get the gun to fire and the guy's just walking away," Watkins said.

As much as they admire the victim's toughness, they don't recommend you ever resist or fight back during a robbery, because robbers want stuff and stuff can be replaced, but people can't.

The victim hasn't been back to work yet. He said he didn't want to do an interview, but he told us he is healing, although it's been tough.

After everything, the robbers walked away empty handed. Police hope someone knows the men or has heard them talk about the crime.

It's easy to turn them in, just call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS. All tips can be kept confidential and you could get a cash reward.