St. Paul gas station employee shot, wounded during robbery

A gas station attendant was shot Thursday afternoon during an attempted robbery in St. Paul's Hamline-Midway neighborhood, a police spokesman said.

The victim had been working outside of the SuperAmerica at 756 Snelling Av. when he was approached by a gun-wielding man at 4:40 p.m., ordered inside the store and instructed to open a locked area behind the cash register," police spokesman Steve Linders said.

Once inside, a struggle broke out between the suspected robber, the victim and another employee who was in the store, and the suspect fired his gun once, hitting the victim in the neck.

Officers responded, finding the victim inside the store, but the suspect was already gone. The victim was taken to Regions Hospital with injuries considered serious, but not life-threatening, according to Linders.

The suspect has not been caught, Linders said Thursday night. It wasn't immediately clear whether he took anything during the robbery attempt.