Silicon Valley (PTI): An Indian-American clerk at a famous chain store has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen during a suspected robbery attempt in Californias Vallejo city.

Surinder Kumar, a 55-year-old clerk at a '7-eleven' store in Vallejo city, was shot during a robbery, since investigators found an undisclosed amount of cash missing from the register, police said. Kumar died early Friday morning after a customer found him with gunshot wounds behind the counter, Vallejo police said.

It described the suspects as two black males, but said that no further details were immediately available. The police was also seeking public's help to find the killers of Kumar. The customer contacted police in the wee hours saying Kumar was behind the counter, bleeding and unconscious, police said.

He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving, the coroner's office reported. Kumar, who immigrated to the USA from Ludhiana in 2000 along with his family, had been working the graveyard shift at the store for about six years, Sgt Vic Massenkoff said. Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for 7-Eleven, said Kumar was a good employee and well liked in the community.

"This is a real senseless act of violence and there is no justifying what happened," Chabris said. Solano County coroner's office Deputy Adrian Garcia said Kumar had been shot twice - once in the leg and a fatal wound to the left side of his chest.

Police are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact them and are urging anyone wishing to leave an anonymous tip can call Solano County Crime Stoppers.