ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Atlanta police are searching for an armed robber who holds up convenience stores while hiding his face behind a clown mask.
Police said the masked man has been known to pistol whip store clerks and has fired warning shots into walls and a chair.
On Sept. 5, police said the man wearing the mask entered the Xpress Zone convenience store on Cleveland Avenue around 6:40 a.m.
Video released by Atlanta police shows the masked man holding the clerk up at gunpoint in the parking lot out front. The store's manager, Karim Lalani, said the clerk is still recovering.
"He got a lot of stitches on his head because he hit him with the gun," Lalani said. "The guy means business."
Lalani said this was one of several similar robberies that have happened in the area - usually when a store opens - and the increased violence concerned him.
"This is not a single incident - it happened in this area four or five times," Lalani said. "They're getting violent, they're hitting employees, so these people are getting very bad and it needs to be out of the street."
While store clerks are already protected by a multiple surveillance video cameras placed throughout the store and clear, bullet-resistant plastic along the cashier counter, Lalani said the company has added extra protection.
"We now have a security guard who helps us out in the opening and closing of the stores and they randomly will come and check it out," Lalani said. "A lot of police patrols are increased, we noticed that a lot of police stop every couple of hours to check on us and we do really appreciate that."
The robber is known to target stores in the Cleveland Avenue area of southwest Atlanta and seems to strike early in the morning, between 6 and 8:30 a.m.
If you have any information about the robbery, call contact Crimestoppers Atlanta at (404) 577-TIPS(8477).
Copyright 2012 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
