PASADENA, Texas – Police have arrested two people they say were involved in the fatal shooting of a Pasadena store clerk early Christmas morning.
Pasadena Assistant Police Chief Bud Corbett said it happened at the Handi Stop Conoco Station at San Augustine and Sam Houston Parkway about 2:20 a.m.
Police said the clerk, Jayachandra Elaprolu, didn’t put up a fight but was shot five times by 22-year-old Daniel Stiener while scrambling into a back room.
Moments after killing the clerk, authorities said Stiener ran out with the cash register.
Employees said the clerk, who was 22 years old, had recently moved to the area from India.
Police said another suspect, 29-year-old Michael Morris, walked into the store to scope out the scene, bought something and left. Detectives said he then came back, asked for change and walked right past the gunman on his way out.
Authorities said Morris later approached a reporter after his face was broadcast on a local newscast.
“He made the assurance to that reporter that he had merely been a customer,” said Corbett. “The person who is believed to be that same individual actually called the Pasadena Police Department and registered the same complaint.”
However, police said they questioned and pegged Morris as a suspect after they learned he knew Stiener.
Stiener and Morris face charges of capital murder and aggravated robbery.
(via khou.com)
