Virginia smoke shop worker Hamzeh Abushariah, 33, has been charged with malicious wounding, reckless handling of a firearm and violation of a protective order for opening fire on robbers

Police in Virginia have arrested a store clerk who is accused of opening fire on three robbers and wounding one of them while staying inside the business overnight for security during the coronavirus lockdown.

The incident took place early Sunday morning at Arlington Smoke Shop on Shirlington Road in the Green Valley neighborhood.

Store employee Hamzeh Abushariah, 33, of Washington DC, was charged with malicious wounding, reckless handling of a firearm and violation of a protective order barring him from being in possession of a gun. He is being held without bond.

According to a press release from the Arlington County Police Department, officers were dispatched to the store just before 5am on Sunday and came upon a teenage robbery suspect suffering from a gunshot wound.

He was taken to a hospital to be treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Abushariah was sleeping in a back room of the Arlington Smoke Shop in Arlington, Virginia, on Tuesday to protect the store during lockdown

A subsequent investigation uncovered that the injured juvenile and two others broke into the Smoke Shop and began stealing merchandise and cash.

Abushariah, who was sleeping in a secure back room, heard the break-in, grabbed a gun, opened the door to the sales floor and fired shots, wounding the teenage intruder.

According to the police, Abushariah then 'retreated to the back room but reentered the sales floor and discharged his weapon again as the subjects were attempting to flee the business.'

The other two robbers escaped unharmed and fled on foot. Police said breaking and entering charges were pending against all three suspects.

Store owner Jowan Zuber told the station WJLA he is outraged that his employee has been criminally charged for using one of the two guns he had legally purchased and registered two weeks ago to defend his shuttered business during the lockdown.

Zuber argued that Abushariah's actions should have been classified as self-defense.

Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti declined to discuss the specifics of the case but noted that there is evidence that supports the charges.

Store owner Jowan Zuber (right) went on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Tuesday and decried his employee's arrest as 'mind-boggling'

'The decision was not made lightly, and we ask the public not to rush to judgment on what is very much a live investigation,' she stated.

Abushariah's employer said the 33-year-old has two children and was staying at the smoke shop both to provide security and to avoid contracting the novel coronavirus, which had struck his apartment complex in DC.

Zuber was interviewed by Tucker Carlson on his nightly Fox News show on Tuesday and described the incident as 'mind-boggling.'

'It's very sad for America today as American citizens practice their Second Amendment to protect the store and their lives,' Zuber told Carlson. 'Do you know what the police officer told [Abushariah]? "Why didn't you run out the back door?"'