Female cashier stabbed 'several times' during Fort Worth grocery store robbery

FORT WORTH, Texas - A grocery store cashier was stabbed several times inside a Fort Worth Kroger during an attempted robbery.

It happened Wednesday around noon at the grocery store on Camp Bowie W Boulevard in West Fort Worth.

Fort Worth police say the cashier was near her register when 37-year-old Michael Pitts suddenly attacked her with a knife, stabbing her several times.

"He was subdued by employees on the scene and held until officers arrived," explained Fort Worth Police Officer Brad Perez. "The suspect is in custody."

The clerk, a woman in her 20s, was rushed by ambulance to a hospital. Investigators describe her condition upon leaving the store as critical but stable.

"It’s at noon in the middle of the week, and there’s a lot of people that are out there shopping and everything," Perez said. "I don’t know this individual, who he was, his mental state or anything as to be so brazen to walk in into this location and attempt to rob someone by knifepoint."

Police have not said how many customers were at the store when the stabbing took place, but it’s clear a number of people, some perhaps witnesses, were kept inside.

It is unclear if any shoppers got involved to help thwart the attack, but police say a store employee was instrumental in officers making the arrest.   

"What I did hear was that it was one of the managers or an assistant manager that was holding him down when officers arrived," Perez said.

Pitts is charged with aggravated robbery.

The store has been a crime scene for most of the day and has been off limits to customers while investigators gather every bit of evidence possible, including information from witnesses.