Terrell robbery attempt ends in crash

A robbery attempt ended with a 100-mile-per-hour police chase and a dangerous crash.

It started Thursday morning when the suspect targeted a convenience store and a 75-year-old owner who was ready for a fight.

It all started about 11:30 a.m. when the young man walked into a gas station convenience store in Terrell. He asked about using the bathroom then left.

Coming back turned out to be a big mistake.

Store owner Fahed Fatayri and his wife, Ititdal, were seated a few feet away from the cash register when the young man who'd been in the store minutes earlier returned.       

This time, the young man came back with a mask over his face and a large handgun.

He demanded money and pointed his pistol at Itidal.

Much of what happened next was captured on the convenience store's security cameras.

"I stand up,” said Fahed. “I say, ‘I get for you.' I have my gun every time here. I go here. I pick up the gun. I tell him, 'Come on!' He go. He say he shoot my wife. When he go, I shoot him."

The would-be robber was shot in the buttocks just as he left the store and just as Terrell police were responding to the 911 call.

"He had not even gotten out of the general area of the location when we saw him enter the vehicle,” said Capt. A.D. Sansom with the Terrell Police Department.

The ensuing chase was east along Highway 80, and it reached speeds of over 100 miles an hour.

It ended near Wills Point when the suspect tried to cross the median into the westbound lane and flipped the car several times.

The suspect was ejected from the car during the crash.

He was flown via medical helicopter to Dallas in critical condition.

Terrell police did not release the suspect’s name because they are having trouble notifying family. However, FOX 4 is told he is a 22-year-old man from the Mineola area.

Tuesday was not the first time someone has tried, unsuccessfully, to rob Fahed during his 20 years in business.

"How many times have you been robbed when you had to pull your gun?" FOX 4’s Richard Ray said.

Fahed and his wife own the gas station and adjoining liquor store.   

She was robbed once when Fahed was not there.

But Fahed, an immigrant from Syria, is not a man to be messed with.