A peaceful morning activity — picking up donuts and coffee — has become a risky business in Houston following two violent donut shop robberies, one of which left a man seriously wounded.
The Houston Police Department tells CultureMap that a gunman marched into a Shipley Do-Nuts at Antoine and Little York shortly after the store opened at 5 a.m. on Monday. He forced staff into a back office, riffling through the shop for cash during a terrifying encounter lasting nearly 20 minutes.
According to KHOU Ch. 11, when the store manager explained she didn't have the combination to the safe, the robber put the gun to her head and then fired a round into the ceiling.
A normally peaceful morning activity — picking up donuts and coffee — has become risky business in Houston.
“He got mad and he told everybody, I'm going to kill everybody if you don't open the safe," she tells reporters. In the end, the robber left with only money from the cash register and remains at large.
While no injuries were reported during the Shipley incident, the owner of the donut shop near Highway 249 and Beltway 8 wasn't so lucky.
Fantastic Donuts & Croissants (14766 Tomball Parkway) had been open for an hour Tuesday morning when two masked gunman arrived at the scene in a black car. As the suspects entered the store at 7 a.m., the owner pulled out a gun and the trio briefly exchanged gunfire before the robbers fled the scene empty handed.
The shop owner — a father of four who opened the business in 2009 — was rushed to Ben Taub Hospital with gunshot wounds to his leg and abdomen.
Those with information on either case are asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Houston online or at 713-222-TIPS (8477). All tipsters remain anonymous.
A donut shop owner suffered serious injuries during a Tuesday morning shootout with robbers.
