“Two men attempted to Rob Gifford’s gas station in Reader Sunday night, but all they got away with were some ventilation holes in their getaway vehicle. At approximately 11:20 p.m. a man went to the residence next door to the station and asked owner Tom Gifford if he could use his phone because his car had broken down. Gifford got the phone and when he turned around, the man was holding an knife and a second man wearing a ski mask was in his house holding a pistol. The unmasked man asked for money and drugs; Gifford complied. ‘They didn’t want his blood pressure medicine,’ commented Sheriff James Hoskins. The duo led Gifford back to the store where they wanted more money and items. ‘They wanted into the safe,’ said Gifford. What the perpetrators didn’t know was that the store owner had a loaded pistol ready on top of the safe. ‘When they saw the gun, I was going to shoot them, but the safety was on,’ said Gifford. ‘When I finally got it off they had run out of the building.’ The owner then exited the building and unloaded seven shots into their vehicle as they were speeding away …” (11/18/09)