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Robber nearly shoots child, store employee during dramatic getaway

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. — Police in Fayette County are looking for a robber who opened fire and almost hit a 3-year-old girl.

Tyrone police say an image shows the robber who terrorized employees at O'Reilly's Auto Parts early Monday morning.

Channel 2 Action News has learned the man slipped through a back door and held workers at gunpoint.

"I told my kids to get down. I screamed it so loud," Mike McKinney, a witness to the robbery, told Channel 2's Carl Willis.

McKinney said all three of his children ducked just before a robber fired recklessly into his SUV.

The shot pierced the driver's-side passenger window and went right through his daughter's car seat.

"If she hadn't have moved her head, it would have been right in her head," McKinney said. "She actually listened to me. For one time if my life, I've been able to get her to listen to me."

McKinney said his instincts kicked in as he drove past the parking lot of the store on Tyrone Road. He said he heard a victim screaming that he'd been shot, and saw the suspect jump into a car.

Tyrone police showed Willis surveillance video that shows the moment when McKinney rammed the suspect's getaway car.

McKinney said he could see the man's eyes.

"I saw fear and desperation change to anger," he said.

Police said the robber was running after holding employees at gunpoint, and clearing out the register. They said he also shot at an employee who startled him as he tried to leave through the back door.

"We need to get him off the streets before somebody really gets hurt. He doesn't care anything about life," said Detective D. Morris with the Tyrone Police Department.

That's why McKinney is telling his story, because while it didn't end in tragedy, there's no guarantee the next time won't.

"He's out there right now, and there's no telling when he might do it again," he said.