A lesson to all criminals: Don't attempt to hold-up a gun shop. I read this story today, but it occurred in 1990.
After stepping around a marked police patrol car parked at the front door, a man walked into H&J Leather & Firearms in Renton Highlands near Seattle, Washington intent on robbing the store. The shop was full of customers and a uniformed officer was standing at the counter. Upon seeing the officer, the would-be robber announced a hold-up and fired a few wild shots from a .38 caliber semiautomatic pistol.
The officer and a clerk promptly returned fire, and several customers also drew their guns. The robber was pronounced dead four hours later at a hospital. It's unclear how many shots were fired because some of the suspects shots struck ammunition on the counter causing that ammo to explode. "There were slugs all over that place" police Capt. Don Persson said. Crime scene investigators located 47 spent cartridge cases in the shop; ballistics identified spent rounds from seven different weapons. The subsequent autopsy revealed 4 gunshot wounds to the robber. No one else was hurt.
Confirmed by Snopes:
snopes.com: Gun Shop Robber