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Crime doesn’t pay, but it can shoot back.

Police say 16-year-old Clifton Chatman’s death is the result of a botched Dec. 14 robbery near a public housing complex in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood. In the attempted mugging, the teen and three accomplices ambushed a man and demanded his cell phone and other belongings.

The victim complied and the robbers began to rummage through the loot, but one of them pulled out a handgun and fired at the man. But then the round struck the man’s face, ricocheted and struck Chapman, killing him on the spot.

The other suspects fled the scene and when police arrived, the found the robbery victim, and Chatman, who was identified later.

Last week, police arrested a 16-year-old suspect in connection with the robbery, but they did not say whether or not he was the shooter, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The robbery victim was hospitalized and survived his injuries, police said.