A 14-year-old son of a Philadelphia pizza shop employee shot a would-be robber in the face after the suspect tried to choke his mother, police said.

Three men entered the Spring Garden neighborhood pizza shop and demanded money on Dec. 9, according to a shop employee. A female employee said she told the men that she could not open the cash register without a code. Another employee said that one of the three suspects reached over the counter and began choking the female employee.

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Her teenage son then reportedly pulled a handgun from under the counter and shot at the suspect, hitting him in the face, prompting all three suspects to flee the scene, police said.

Police responded to the shop at around 10 p.m., where they discovered a trail of blood leading from the shop to the entrance of a subway station three blocks away, NBC 10 Philadelphia reports.

Police found and arrested one of the suspects, who was bleeding severely, near the subway station entrance. He had some of the pizza shop's money in his pockets but no firearm. It is unclear whether the man actually had a weapon or was pretending to have one while allegedly robbing the store.

The suspect is currently in critical condition at Jefferson Hospital.

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Police identified the suspect, using security footage, as someone wanted for robbery of a nearby pharmacy that happened a few minutes before the pizza shop robbery. It is believed the same three men were involved in both robberies.

Officers are trying to track down and interview customers who were in the pizza shop at the time of the incident.