
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 11, 1995                   TAG: 9502140034
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

WOUNDED STORE OWNER RECOVERING

The owner of a Northwest Roanoke convenience store was recuperating late Friday as police continued to search for two assailants who robbed him, then shot him four times.

Just before 10 p.m. Thursday, two men wearing ski masks and carrying guns demanded money from the owner of the Wilmont Market at 3605 Shenandoah Ave., police said. John Clifton Hartsel, 60, gave a small amount of cash to the men, who then fired an estimated six shots.

Hartsel was grazed on the chest and upper arm and hit in the right hand and chest. He was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Thursday night, police confirmed that a .22-caliber gun had been used in the shooting. But police would not comment Friday on the weapon used.

The robbers were seen running from the store north on 36th Street. They were described as both wearing black and in their late teens.

An hour later, a 13-year-old Roanoke boy in the 2300 block of Staunton Avenue told police he had been shot in the knee by two men carrying guns. The boy told police the men did not take anything, just fired three shots.

Police had not determined Friday whether the shootings were related. They would not say what type of gun was used in the second shooting.

The boy saw the men flee through Staunton Park, police said. The boy was admitted to Roanoke Memorial Hospital and was in satisfactory condition Friday.

by CNB