PADDOCK HILLS, Ohio (WKRC) – A man who allegedly tried to rob a Paddock Hills convenience store is dead after the clerk apparently shot him.

The incident occurred just before 3 a.m. at the BP gas station on the corner of Reading Road and Tennessee Avenue. Police say little more than that a man was shot there around 2:50 a.m. Paramedics arrived and tried to save him, but to no avail.

The details that Local 12 dug up came from people who worked at the store, radio traffic and court documents. The first call came at 2:49 a.m.

“Attention, all cars. Report of a possible shooting at BP, 4545 Reading,” the dispatch center said.

Surveillance video from the Gold Star across the street showed police arriving within two minutes. Inside the BP, 57-year-old Dana Bruenton was lying on the ground, dead from a gunshot wound.

“Channels, the clerk says he just shot someone,” a police officer said.

“It’s life-threatening right now,” the officer said. “Sounds like they might be doing a transport.”

Bruenton was taken to UC Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Employees at the BP gas station said Bruenton came in and demanded money. They said their co-worker opened the register, but when Bruenton demanded that the employee get on the ground, he refused and a struggle ensued. They said the owner kept a gun behind the counter. The employee then grabbed it and shot Bruenton.

JJ Wilbon is a BP customer who said she usually hangs out with friends in the BP parking lot until the early hours of the morning.

“I’m usually here, but (this time) I wasn’t here,” Wilbon said.

She said the employee involved in the shooting was a good-natured guy.

“(A) sense of humor. Minds his own business,” Wilbon said.

Local 12 asked her if she thought the employee could be involved in something like this.

“Not at all,” said Wilbon. “Not at all.”

Bruenton, on the other hand, has a criminal record that goes back to the 1980s and includes at least two crimes that landed him in prison: an aggravated robbery in 1992 and an assault in 2007. A month ago, police arrested Bruenton for allegedly attacking someone with a wrench. Three weeks ago, officers arrested him for allegedly trying to steal groceries from a Kroger store.

Wilbon argued that the clerk’s shooting of Bruenton was justified.

“Sometimes you have to pick your battles,” Wilbon said.

“And this time he chose to fight,” Local 12 said.

“He chose to fight,” Wilbon said.

Local 12 then asked her if she thought it was the right decision.

“I do. I do,” Wilbon said. “I hate to see someone lose their life like that, but that’s the way it is.”

Police do not confirm the clerk’s account of the incident. The store owner told us that his employee was questioned by police after the incident and then released.