ELYRIA - An employee of an East Broad Street drive-through thwarted an attempted robbery Monday morning when she fired a shot at the robber as he slammed through a door behind which she had barricaded herself.

That happened at 9:15 a.m. - roughly an hour after a thief robbed West River Florist of about $600 at gunpoint.

Elyria police Detective Sgt. Lee Frank said police can’t say yet whether the same suspect was to blame for both incidents, although in both cases, the suspect wore a blue bandana over his face.

The drive-through employee, who declined to identify herself when she agreed to talk by phone later in the day, was working at the Broad Street Beverage at 308 E. Broad St. when the suspect walked in through a raised garage door to the west side of the building, holding a small revolver, police said.

“When I saw him with his gun in the air, I ran and shut the door,” she said, referring to the door that separates the drive-through from the inside part of the business.

“He busted through the door to get into the store. I was on the ground on my back trying to keep the door shut but he was so big.”

A police press release said the man shattered a window in the door as he slammed against it to force his way inside. As he forced the door open, the woman - who had grabbed her own gun - pointed it at him and fired a single shot, police said.

“He made a hell of a mess. He was trying his darnedest to get to me,” the woman said. “He didn’t have time to talk or anything. I just thought he figured I was alone. I shot as soon as I saw his whole body.”

She said she doesn’t know whether she hit him or not. She and some male co-workers who were there when the attempted hold-up occurred searched for the shell casing, but never found it.

She said she somehow stayed calm during the incident, but afterward realized the full effect of what had happened.

“It was after the fact that I kind of lost it,” she said.

Immediately afterward, police checked the area around Sumner and Clark streets, but later Monday, police said there had been no arrests in either incident.

The drive-through robber was described by police as being a black man wearing tan or light-colored pants and a white T-shirt and having a black T-shirt wrapped around his head and a blue bandana over his mouth and chin. He also was wearing white shoes, police said.

Just about two weeks ago, the drive-through was robbed during a weekend holdup. On June 12, police said two men came into the drive-through brandishing handguns and ordered two female clerks to turn over money from the cash registers and safe.

Earlier Monday, police said a gunman walked into West River Florist at 969 West River Road N. just as the shop was preparing to open at 7:55 a.m.

The employee handed over about $600 in cash and checks, which the thief shoved into a blue plastic grocery bag, police said. The suspect then forced the employee into a back cooler with instructions to stay there. The worker told police about a minute went by before the employee left the cooler to call police.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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