Officers responded to the shooting at the East Oakland Dollar and More store at 8601 International Blvd. at 9:45 p.m.
Police said a suspect entered the store and shot at a clerk. Another worker exchanged gunfire with the suspect, who then took a third clerk in a headlock, dragged him outside, and let him go before fleeing.
Enshrah Ayesh, whose family owns the store, said she and several family members were working when a tall man dressed in a puffy jacket whom she had never seen before walked into the store and asked her where the cigarettes were.
"I pointed him where the cigarettes were, that's when he took out his gun," Ayesh said.
She said the man then demanded money. Her mother was behind the counter at the register and started reaching for the money, but the man began hitting her, Ayesh said.
The man then fired a shot that grazed her mother's cheek, Ayesh said.
Her father and her brother then came running from the back. Her father, who was armed with a gun, began shooting at the man, who grabbed her brother as a shield, she said.
"Of course my father stopped shooting," she said.
The man dragged her brother out of the store, then let him go, got on a bicycle and rode off, she said. He hadn't taken anything from the store.
Meanwhile, Enshrah Ayesh ran to the back of the store and called 911.
Today, Ayesh said, her mother is resting at the family's Hayward home, recovering from the cheek wound and a head injury from being hit.
Ayesh said that two years ago, her brother Samier Ayesh, 22, was shot and killed while trying to prevent graffiti vandals from tagging a spot outside the dollar store.
Police said Samier Ayesh was shot just before 11 p.m. on June 11, 2010.
His sister said two people have been arrested in connection with the shooting and that the case is making its way through court.
Enshrah Ayesh said Monday night was the first time anyone tried to rob the store, located in the heart of East Oakland.
"It's a crazy neighborhood," she said.
