Dangers of convenience store work in the spotlight after 7-Eleven clerk is killed in El Paso

The man shot and killed while working at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Far East El Paso was a proud uncle.

25-year-old Arbin Iglesias had several photos of his nieces and nephew on his Facebook profile.

Wednesday morning, Iglesias’ body was found in the back of a 7-Eleven convenience store located on the 2100 blockof Zaragoza. The suspect, yet to be identified, shot and killed Iglesias before stealing his truck, police said.

The suspect made it all the way to Junction, Texas where he ended up shooting and killing himself following a shootout with officers from the Department of Public Safety.

The shooting is yet another reminder of the dangerous job of a convenience store clerk. Raul Ybarra, a former 7-Eleven employee, tells ABC-7 convenience store employees are always on guard.

“You just never knew who the person coming in is,” Ybarra said. “Is this the guy that’s going to rob me? Is this the guy that’s going to harm me?”

Ybarra says 7-Eleven has strict rules for its employees in the event of a robbery. “Their priority is your safety, so they would tell you if they ask for the money give them the money, don’t argue, don’t fight back,” Ybarra said.

Ybarra says 7-Eleven would put employees in the same neighborhoods where they lived, that way, customers would recognize them.

He says Wednesday’s shooting brought back memories of his time working at 7-Eleven and a concern he had even back then. “It makes me think back and that they should have more than one person on a shift, they should have two,” Ybarra said.

ABC-7 reached out to 7-Eleven for comment and we were told that the store where Iglesias worked is a licensed location and that the company that owns it, Southwest Convenience Stores LLC, is based out of Odessa, TX.

7-Eleven provided us a phone number to Southwest Convenience Stores, but we never heard back from them.