Store clerk uses bat to fend off suspect

A would-be armed robber got more than he asked for Wednesday morning after a store clerk knocked him unconscious with a baseball bat, police said.

North Las Vegas police Sgt. Tim Bedwell said the incident happened about 2:15 a.m. after a man entered the Family Stop convenience store and gas station, 2014 W. Ann Road, near Clayton Street.

The suspect approached the 52-year-old clerk with a "fake" handgun and demanded cigarettes and money, Bedwell said.

When the suspect became distracted by other customers entering the store, the clerk walloped him with an aluminum baseball bat, Bedwell said.

"He incapacitated him in the most prudent way he could," he said.

The suspect, who police say is in his 20s, was taken to the hospital with a serious head injury.

Bedwell said the clerk used justifiable force to defend himself against the suspect, who has not been identified.