Liquor store owner recalls wounded lawmaker in considerable pain

Georgia Rep. Gerald Greene, who was shot Thursday behind an adult video store on Victory Drive, managed to escape his assailant and limp into a nearby liquor store for help.

Harish Bherida owns of the 30^th Avenue Liquor Store, which is two doors down from the Foxes Cinema where Greene was shot. He said Greene was in considerable pain when he limped into his store after being shot Thursday afternoon.

Bherida said he was sitting in his office in the rear of the store when someone came running into the store saying someone was shooting in the parking lot. Then his wife, who was very agitated, came to him with the same news.

“At first I thought someone was shooting in the store and that was why my wife was screaming,” Bherida said. “But then Mr. Green came in and said some black guy shot him, and snatched his phone and lottery ticket.”

“I saw that he was bleeding heavily, crying a lot, saying he was sin a lot of pain.”

Bherida gave Greene a chair and called 911. The 911 operator told them that it might be a few minutes because of the amount of police involved down the street at the Walmart, where a police officer shot twice at an alleged shoplifter before capturing him.

“Then the sheriff came and the police came and they called the paramedics and the ambulance, and then they came and took him” Bherida said.

Bherida said Greene was a regular customer at his store.

He was a regular customer. He would come in once a week or twice a week,” Bherida said.

Security camera video shows Greene limping up to the main counter and saying something through the glass screen, then come around to a side area where there is a door leading into the clerk’s area. As he approaches the door, Bherida is seen coming out and helping Greene. An unidentified man then comes out of the area with a chair and Bherida helps Greene to sit and take the load off his wounded leg.

Greene had been in Atlanta for a session of the General Assembly and was reportedly driving back to his home in Cuthbert when he stopped in Columbus.

He was reportedly carrying several thousand dollars in cash to deliver to the American Red Cross in his storm-torn district. The would-be robber got none of the money, Greene said.

This story was originally published January 27, 2017 at 1:52 PM with the headline "Liquor store owner recalls wounded lawmaker in considerable pain."