CLEVELAND -- A wave of violent crime sprees has hit northeast Ohio recently and now area business owners are on alert and prepared to fight back.

Store clerks are turning up the heat on safety. They are arming themselves with weapons while they work, NewsChannel5 reported.

On Tuesday, an attempted robbery turned deadly at a Citgo Station when a clerk shot the suspect on the other side of the counter.

Witnesses said that an unidentified robber burst into the gas station on East 156th Street with a gun and demanded money. The robber was apparently unaware that the cashier also had a gun.

"You can't blame any store owner for defending (himself) in light of the fact that so many of them have been killed in this city," City Councilman Mike Polensek said.

For some local convenience store clerks, it's now a matter of survival.

"When they had the barrel in my face, I just thought that's it for me," robbery victim Samer Abdelaziz said.

Police are still reviewing surveillance videotape from the store to pinpoint exactly what happened during the shooting.