A clerk at a Vancouver convenience store was stabbed Sunday night when he confronted a group of men who stole from the store, according to police.
Officers were dispatched around 10:30 p.m. to the 7-Eleven store at 5600 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd. for the report of an assault with a weapon.
The clerk watched four men enter the store and leave with merchandise without paying, Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said in an email. He followed the group out of the store, and they grabbed his bicycle sitting out front, Kapp said.
“He continues to follow them and confronts them about the stolen bike, and one of the males stabs the victim in the back,” she said.
The victim’s injuries were not life-threatening. The police department did not provide his name, and an employee at the store said the clerk was recovering and was unsure when he’d return to work.
There have been no arrests in the incident. Attempts are being made to identify the suspects, Kapp said.
The number of robberies and assaults in Vancouver both decreased from 2016 to 2017, according to crime statistics released by the FBI on Monday.
In 2016, there were 148 robberies and 410 assaults, according to the data. Last year, those figures were 122 and 367, respectively. This is in line with national figures that show violent crimes decreased by 0.2 percent from the 2016 estimate.
