The owner of a Glen Burnie pizza store shot during a Wednesday night robbery that left an employee wounded remained hospitalized yesterday as Anne Arundel County police searched for two men suspected of the attack.
Shaukat Hayat Khan, 57, who owns Pizza Grande on Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard, was shot several times in the upper body during the robbery, police said. The Annapolis resident was in serious but stable condition last night at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
An employee, Benjamin Terry Tabler, 53, was struck in the head with an unknown object and shot once in the lower body. Tabler, a Glen Burnie resident, was released from Shock Trauma yesterday, a spokeswoman for the hospital said.
Pizza Grande was closed yesterday.
Employees at nearby pizza parlors were shaken by the incident and said they had taken stock of their safety measures.
"We talk about safety every day, but something like this makes me more tense," said Rhonda Jones, manager of the Domino's just across the street from Pizza Grande. She said her restaurant's policy is to not resist robbery attempts and to keep less than $75 in the store.
Several miles north on Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard, Pizza Capitol employees said they were extra vigilant about their safety last night.
"We are scared," said owner Nadeem Meher. "We don't know why something like this would happen. It's sad, to be honest."
Police said a pair of men, one of them armed with a handgun, entered Pizza Grande about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, announced a robbery and opened fire on the owner and employee. The motive for the shooting was unclear, said Officer Charles Ravenell, a police spokesman.
"In general, we don't have many incidents where anybody is shot, so this is also unusual," Ravenell said.
The suspects are described as a 5-foot, 8-inch, 160-pound white male and a 6-foot thinly built black male. Both were wearing ski masks, and the white man was armed with a handgun.
They took an undisclosed amount of cash from the store and fled on foot. Police immediately canvassed the area, but found no trace of the men Wednesday night.
Last month, Raheel Kamal, 18, an employee at a Carney takeout restaurant, was fatally shot during a robbery. Baltimore County police said three men are being sought for questioning in that case. Like the Glen Burnie robbery, the suspects took an undisclosed amount of money and fled on foot.
Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to call the county police at 410-222-6135.