Video shows pepper spray battle between Los Angeles clerk and robbers

Security cameras from a Reseda phone store show a clerk exchanging pepper spray blasts with smash-and-grab robbers.

The robbery happened on Aug. 25 at the LA Tech Repair store in the 7600 block of Tampa Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The surveillance video shows a young man holding the door open and the employee asking him to close it. The employee paces behind the counter, tense and cautious because he's been robbed before, before slipping to the backroom. He comes back out right before three masked suspects rush into the store.

They start smashing display cases as the employee sprays them with pepper spray. One of the suspects hits him with his own pepper spray.

The clerk slips to the ground as the thieves bolt out the door with bags full of phones. Investiga