Burke County, North Carolina

From the Charlotte’s WSOCtv.com of June 6, 2005

Clerk, Robbers Have Convenience Store Showdown

A store clerk said Monday night that she reached for her own gun after a man with a gun tried to rob her Monday in Burke County.

Bonnie Christie said the man walked into the store and pulled a gun on her.

Christie said when the man's gun jammed, she reached for her loaded gun under the counter.

"I said, 'well, if you're gonna shoot me, I can shoot you'" Christie said.

The robber ran out the front door.

Christie copied down the tag number of the getaway car and called the Burke County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies traced the license tag to a home in Marion.

McDowell County sheriff's deputies then helped arrest Thomas Mauk and Christopher Cannon.

"People think you make a lot of money at a job like this, but you make a living and that's about it," said Christie.

Mauk and Cannon were in the Burke County Jail Monday night under a $75,000 bond.