Female convenience store clerk fights off would-be robber

KITTANNING, Pa. — Police arrested a man who they said tried to rob a Freeport convenience store Tuesday morning, but was attacked by the clerk.

According to police, Joshua Lang, 32, walked into the BP gas station convenience store on Buffalo Street just after 8 a.m.

Authorities said Lang first asked for cigarettes, but then started yelling. He then punched and shoved the clerk, Michelle Hawthorne, before she began to fight back.

“He started screaming at me to open the register and then he came over,” Hawthorne said. “He punched me and that was it. I wasn’t going to take it.”

Hawthorne, 36, said she punched the man back and eventually shoved him out of the store. She wasn’t injured in the incident.

“I don’t think he expected me to hit him. I really didn’t have time to think. I just knew he hit me, so I had to take care of him,” Hawthorne said.

Police said they arrested Lang about two hours later wearing the same clothes. He is facing charges of attempted robbery and simple assault.

WPXI