Man attempts to rob clinic

Friday, Feb. 4, 2005 | 11:03 a.m.

Metro SWAT teams were preparing this morning to enter a veterinary clinic where an armed robber was believed to be hiding.

About 8:40 a.m., a gun-wielding man with a bandana over the lower part of his face walked into the Animal Kingdom Veterinary Clinic at 1325 Vegas Valley Drive near Maryland Parkway, Officer Jose Montoya, a Metro spokesman, said.

The man bumped into an employee who screamed and ran from the building, Montoya said.

Three other employees were in the back of the building and, when they tried to escape, the gunman appeared to panic and shot an employee in the foot, he said.

The woman who was shot was being treated this morning at University Medical Center for a nonlife-threatening injury.

Police spoke to clinic employee, construction workers in the area and other witnesses, but none of them saw the man exit the building.

As of 10:30 a.m., police had not seen any movement inside the building and were trying to establish communication with man, who may still be inside, he said.

"There is a good possibility he could still be in there so we're treating it as though he is," Montoya said this morning.