The alleged dollar store robber who was critically wounded in a Brooklyn shootout with cops earlier this week has been booked on attempted murder charges, police announced Thursday morning.
Clarence Little, 45, of East 102nd Street in Canarsie faces multiple counts of attempted murder, attempted assault, criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest and robbery in connection with the failed Dollar Tree robbery-turned-police shooting that happened on Jan. 4.
Law enforcement sources said Little walked into the Dollar Tree store at 2120 Rockaway Pkwy. in Canarsie at about 4:47 p.m. on Tuesday and attempted to rob the facility at gunpoint. Video camera footage that police obtained from the store shows Little pointing a handgun at an employee in an apparent demand for cash.
Officers from the 69th Precinct responded to the location after being tipped off to the robbery through a 911 call. According to NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey, Little allegedly spotted the arriving officers and it led to a physical confrontation.
During the struggle, police sources said, Little managed to pull out his firearm and hit the trigger, blasting two shots at the officers. The cops then returned fire, striking Little in the neck.
Police administered first aid, including CPR, to the suspect before EMS arrived on the scene. Paramedics rushed him to Brookdale Hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition.
The two officers involved in the shootout were evaluated at Kings County Hospital, but were not injured in the shootout, sources said.
