Shot fired during armed pharmacy robbery

A gunshot was fired during the robbery of a pharmacy in Calgary's Mission neighbourhood on Thursday morning.

Police said two masked men entered the Medicine Shoppe in the 2300 block of Fourth Street S.W. around 8:30 a.m. and showed the lone clerk a handgun.

The clerk managed to escape safely.

The men proceeded to steal OxyContin, a highly addictive prescription narcotic. Police said the gun somehow discharged, but no customers were in the pharmacy and only property was damaged.

Witness Dan Ta, who delivers drugs to the store, said he saw two white men wearing dark clothing and Toronto Blue Jays hats run out of the pharmacy.

"The owner ran out and then after that I stopped my car to see what's going on. And these two guys came out and pointed a gun at my face and … they swore at me not to do anything and I didn't do anything and they took off," Ta told CBC News.

The police canine unit was dispatched, but the suspects got away on foot.

OxyContin is a slow-release form of oxycodone and similar to morphine in its effect and addictiveness.

Police are investigating whether the robbery is connected to other drug store robberies in Calgary.

Between Sept. 28 and Oct. 27, 2009, nine pharmacies in Calgary and one in Okotoks were robbed. Most of them involved the theft of OxyContin.

A 31-year-old man was charged with robbery, but police continued to investigate and said further charges were pending.