By Anita Stackhouse-Hite, The Porterville Recorder
The owner of a Porterville market was shot Sunday at about 7:25 p.m. by a lone gunman during a robbery.

Saysamone Khamsaysoury, 47, complied with the unknown assailant when the man approached a checkout register at Vientiene Market on South Main Street and demanded money.

After the store owner handed over an unknown amount of cash, he turned his back to the man and started to walk away. The man shot him in the back of his right arm, according to his son Somsamay Khamsaysoury, 23. The son learned there was a family problem, but not what it was, when his brother Phet Khamsaysoury, 25, instant messaged him on the computer around 9:30 p.m.

“The message said whenever you get this message you have to call Mom immediately,” Somsamay Khamsaysoury said Monday. “He didn't say what it was, but I had a feeling about what it might be. It's a pretty bad area over there. They were just getting ready to close when it happened.”

His mother, father and two aunts were on duty at the time. This is the third time the store has been held up since it opened at that location in the early 1990, according to Somsamay Khamsaysoury.

His father was hit in the right arm and a bone on his forearm was broken in three places. Saysamone Khamsaysoury was taken to Sierra View District Hospital by ambulance and admitted for treatment.

Sierra View Director of Marketing and Community Relations Tim Lewis was contacted about Khamsaysoury's condition, and gave an official statement. “Yes, we do have a patient by that name,” Lewis told The Recorder. “He is listed in stable condition.”

The gunshot was from a small-caliber handgun, and is not life threatening, according to a police report. Khamsaysoury has some pain when he moves his fingers, but he's recovering now, his son said. The suspect is described as Hispanic male adult about 5 feet 6 inches tall, from 140 to 150 pounds, wearing a gray sweat jacket with hood and tennis shoes.

“Dad may go home as early as tomorrow [Tuesday],” Somsamay Khamsaysoury said. “Everybody is in good spirits and just thankful the bullet didn't hit my dad anywhere else.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Carl Jordan at 782-7415.

Contact Anita Stackhouse-Hite at 784-5000, Ext. 1043, or astackhouse-hite@portervillerecorder.com.

This story was published in The Porterville Recorder on Jan. 23, 2007