Posted 1:03 p.m.

A 60-year-old Albuquerque store clerk suffered not once, not twice, but three times early this morning when he was shot by a man who then stole his car, then wrecked it.

The incident started about 4:30 a.m. at the Allsup's convenience store at 1605 Indian School Road N.W., said Albuquerque Police Department spokesman John Walsh.

The clerk told police he tried to intervene when a Hispanic couple in their 20s broke into a domestic dispute in the store, Walsh said. But the man pulled out a .45-caliber gun and shot the clerk in the stomach, according to Walsh.

The woman fled in the couple's red Pontiac Firebird, but the man took the clerk's keys and drove away in his car, a Ford station wagon, Walsh said.

Police spotted the station wagon nearby and chased it onto I-40, heading west. After the driver turned off at Unser Boulevard heading south, police set up a spike strip in his path, Walsh said.

But when the driver spotted the strip, he tried to run over officers at the scene, Walsh said, then did a U-turn before hitting the spikes.

As he accelerated away from the roadblock, however, an officer coming the opposite direction jumped the median and clipped the suspect's car on the left rear side, causing it to turn sideways and roll over.

Police arrested the driver but have not released his name, Walsh said. He had minor injuries from the crash, Walsh said.

Police also tracked down the woman in the Firebird and took her into custody.

But a computer check found that the Firebird had been identified by Deming police in connection with a homicide case, Walsh said. Deming police are coming to Albuquerque to talk to the woman, he said.

The clerk, meantime, was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital. He is listed in stable condition, Walsh said.

The incident left police shaking their heads, Walsh said. "It was just so coldblooded," not unlike recent shootings of two gas station clerks and a grocery store customer, he said. "It's innocent victims falling prey to very violent people."