Kansas City store clerk is charged with shooting suspected cookie thief

A Kansas City store clerk was charged Wednesday with shooting a teenager in the leg for allegedly stealing a package of cookies.

Jackson County prosecutors also charged Mohammed G. Abdi, 26, with armed criminal action.

Police were called Tuesday afternoon to the Pic N Save store at 59th Street and Prospect Avenue and found the 16-year-old in the street with a gunshot wound on his left leg.

Witnesses told police that a store clerk had fired the shot. When officers contacted Abdi, he had a pistol in a holster in his waistband, according to court documents.

A witness told police that she was talking to Abdi inside the store when Abdi yelled “No!” and fired a shot at the teenager, who ran outside and collapsed.

Video surveillance showed the boy walking toward the exit as Abdi pulled a gun from his waistband and fired a shot, according to the documents.

The 16-year-old later told police that he put a bag of cookies in his pocket and started to leave when he heard the clerk yell and he was shot.

Calvin Williamson, who owns a tire shop across the street from the store, said he heard the gunshot and raced outside, where he saw the 16-year-old sprawled on the pavement, screaming in pain.

“At first, I thought he was playing,” Williamson said. “But then I noticed it was serious when I saw people gathering around him.”

One man in the crowd gave Williamson his belt. Williamson quickly tied it around the boy’s leg. A second man who just got off a bus also gave Williamson his belt.

“I tied it on tight and just held it there until the paramedics came,” Williamson said. “Once I applied pressure on it, it stopped leaking like a faucet.”

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Kansas City store clerk is charged with shooting suspected cookie thief."