Clerk shot during armed robbery at Port Royal gas station. Police seek public’s help

A worker at a Port Royal convenience store and gas station was shot during an armed robbery Wednesday afternoon and is hospitalized in Beaufort as police seek the public’s help in locating the suspect.

Police were dispatched at 5 p.m. to the Parker’s at Ribaut Road and Lady’s Island Drive, said Capt. J.H. Griffith of the Port Royal Police Department.

While they were on their way, he said, officers were notified that the suspect had shot a clerk while robbing the store. The clerk is being treated at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. The clerk was shot multiple times before the suspect ran away toward the city of Beaufort, according to a log of calls Port Royal police answered. As of Thursday, police did not have an update on the clerk’s condition.

The suspect is described as a Black male who was wearing dark pants, blue sweatshirt, black stocking cap and COVID-19 mask. He was armed with a handgun.

Officers from Beaufort Police Department, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and Probation Parole and Pardon assisted in establishing a perimeter and subsequent tracking with a K-9. As of Wednesday evening, officers were processing the scene.

Multiple customers were turned away from the gas station’s convenience store Thursday while clean-up crews worked the scene.

Anyone with information may call detectives N. McCown or J. Boggess at 843-986-2220 regarding the robbery or suspect.