Convenience store customer kills armed robber in Missouri

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- Police said a convenience store customer shot and killed an armed robber in a St. Louis suburb early Saturday.

The QuikTrip customer, who St. Charles police identified only as a 26-year-old man from St. Louis, grabbed a gun from his vehicle and confronted the robber after he saw the man grab the clerk and hold a knife to her throat, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Police said investigators believe the suspect was also responsible for a burglary and second robbery at two other gas stations that happened shortly before he went to the QuikTrip around 3:20 a.m. Saturday. He was also driving a black Toyota Highlander that had been reported stolen Friday.

St. Charles police said the suspect who died was 26-year-old Lance Bush of St. Louis who was homeless. But they wouldn't identify the customer who shot him until prosecutors review the incident to determine whether the killing was justified.

Police said the customer confronted Bush when he returned inside the QuikTrip. Before the customer shot him, police said Bush grabbed his backpack and moved toward the man and said "I have something for you." The clerk and the customer were unhurt.

Shortly before 3 a.m. a suspect entered an On The Run convenience store and forced a clerk to open two cash registers at knifepoint. That clerk had knife cuts on her left wrist, right hand and neck and was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Between that robbery and the shooting at QuikTrip, a burglary was reported at Midtown Phillips 66. Police later found items stolen from that gas station in the SUV that Bush was driving at QuikTrip.