Store security guard critical after robbery

A Queens security guard remained in critical condition one day after a group of people rammed him with their getaway car as was trying to foil a robbery attempt.
Awali Khouroupra, 51, was working as a security guard outside the Pretty Girl clothing store on Jamaica Avenue on Monday afternoon, May 14 when a person tried to steal clothes from the store. Khouroupra spotted the thief heading to a getaway car, and tried to stop the escape by jumping on the van, but it sped away throwing Khouroupra to the ground.
“He’s not doing well; he’s on life support,” store manager Abubaker Yahia told The Courier Sun after he visited Khouroupra on Tuesday at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
Yahia, 39, who is the manager of Pretty Girl, said he ran from the stock room after hearing the cashier scream when the alleged shoplifters ran from the store with the clothing. When he went outside, Khouroupra had already tried to stop the thieves.
“Awali was lying in the street and he was bleeding,” Yahia said.
Police sources confirmed that they are looking for a burgundy 2000 Plymouth Voyager that struck Khouroupra, however they said they did not get a license plate on the car.
Published reports indicated that a woman in her 20s allegedly stole the jeans and fled to the getaway car where three males were inside.
Khouroupra, a native of Togo, had been working as a security guard outside the Jamaica store for one year, the same amount of time he has been in the country.
“He’s a very, very good guy,” said Yahia, who has been the manager at the store for six years. “He cared about his job very much. He did his job very good.”
Yahia said that Khouroupra lived in Jamaica, but his wife and two daughters were still living in Togo.