NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A clerk at a New Haven store was shot in the chest after an armed robbery in New Haven on Friday.

Police said a man attempted to rob the Norton Package Store on Chapel Street before 1 p.m.

The robber and clerk struggled inside the store, according to police. The fight then spilled onto the street outside the store, where the clerk was shot in the chest, police said.

"The suspect had gone into the package store, there had been some type of altercation inside that continued outside, and that's where the store employee was shot," said Lt. Lisa Dadio of the New Haven Police Department.

"The guy from the package store came out holding his stomach, and he had a broomstick or something in his hand," said witness Helen Estrada.

Witnesses told police that the robber fled the area on foot. The robber was described as a black male in his early to mid 20s.

Police said a neighborhood school was placed in lockdown for a short period on Friday while police searched for the robber.

The school was no longer in lock down at 3 p.m.

Estrada, who works on the opposite corner of Chapel and Norton streets said the robber stopped in her store before the shooting.

"He told me to get him three beef patties with cheese," she said. "I went to heat them up, I came back and saw a lady who was already there, and I said, 'Where'd he go?' She said, 'He walked out of the store.'"

Estrada thinks the man left because she had other customers in the store.

"I was scared to death, because it could have been me if I'd been by myself," she said.

The shot clerk remained in critical condition on Friday night.

Anyone with information regarding the investigation should contact the New Haven Police Department by dialing 866-888-TIPS.