By NANCY HILER
The crimes took place within an hour and a half of and less than a mile from each other.
At 1:30 a.m., a man jumped behind the counter inside the U.S. Petroleum gas station at Bellmore and Jerusalem avenues and beat the clerk on duty in the head and arms with a baseball bat in an attempt to rob the cash register, police said.
The victim, Salih Elmale, 47, was admitted to Nassau University Medical Center, where he was treated for a severe head laceration and a broken right forearm, police said. "He's going to be all right," station manager Turan Uzen said on Tuesday. Uzen said the part-time clerk, who had worked at the station for about two years, was alone at the time.
The attacker was one of four people, two male and two female, who entered the store together and fled after the incident, according to police. "I talked to Salih in the hospital, and he said he'd never seen them before," Uzen said. Police said they had no descriptions of the suspects.
The group fled with $100 in cash that was underneath the counter, but did not take the money in the register, Uzen said. "He never opened the register because they saw him touch the alarm button, and they panicked and ran out of here," Uzen said of Elmale.
Nearby shooting
Less than a mile away and about an hour and a half earlier, just after midnight, an unknown man standing outside a silver SUV at Bellmore and Marshall avenues shot a 16-year-old boy in the neck.
The teenager told police that the shooter had asked him for directions and then walked away, heading for his vehicle. "He heard a loud bang and felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck," a police spokesperson said.
The victim was treated at NUMC for a small-caliber bullet wound, and released. Police described the assailant as a black male, 6 feet tall, 16 to 17 years old, wearing black pants, a black shirt and a black do-rag.
"Bellmore is usually a safe place," Uzen said, adding that a security camera was being installed at the gas station.
Detectives ask anyone with information regarding either crime to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.
Comments about this story? NHiler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
