Fast food manager shot by robber wearing mask, cape

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Updated: 5:52 PM Nov 10, 2009 Fast food manager shot by robber wearing mask, cape The manager of a Western Ave. Hardee's restaurant was shot by a masked robber wearing a cape around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, police say Posted: 11:22 AM Nov 10, 2009	A manager was shot at the Hardee's on Western Ave. during an armed robbery Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009. (Photo: Volunteer TV photojournalist Daniel Beckner)

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The manager of a Western Ave. Hardee's restaurant was shot by a masked robber wearing a cape around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, police say.

"According to witnesses, a male entered the store with a black handgun, shot the manager, then removed money from the business," Knoxville Police spokesman Darrell DeBusk said in a news release. The manager was identified as Randy Valentine, 48.

Work started off quiet for Lynn Grubb. But next door, on Western Avenue, is Hardee's, and soon a frightened man came stumbling through the door.

Grubb says, "When he came in he collapsed on his knees and I thought he was having a heart attack."

And then the man frantically asked the man to call 911.

"He said that somebody at Hardee's had been shot and he was standing five feet from the guy that got shot," Grubb says. "He was scared to death and was shaking."

That's because the man was one of several customers waiting to get food at Hardee's when the shooter came in.

"He said that he had seen someone with a Halloween mask and a cape," Grubb says. "He had come in and just shot the guy."

Valentine was shot at least once in the torso area, and police say the other employees hid when they heard the gunshot.

"The employees locked themselves in the freezer to get away from this individual," DeBusk says.

Witnesses told police the shooter took money from the cash register.

The suspect is described as a 5' 8" tall, wearing all black clothing, in addition to the mask and cape. The mask had the image of a skeletal face or skull on it, police say.

Police say the suspect may have been driving a black or hunter green, four-door Lincoln or Mercury car with tinted windows and solid rims.

Valentine was taken to UT Medical Center. He's listed in serious condition.

Anyone with information should call police at 215-7212.

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