ST. PAUL — St. Paul police said a gas station employee was shot in the neck during a Thanksgiving Day robbery but is expected to live.

Authorities said the assailant approached the SuperAmerica employee outside the store shortly after 4:30 p.m., ordered him into the store at gunpoint and told him to open the locked area behind the cash register.

The employee and another worker struggled with the male suspect, and the assailant shot the first employee before fleeing. It wasn’t clear whether anything was taken from the store.

Police did not immediately identify the victim. They said the worker was taken to a hospital with injuries considered serious but not life-threatening.

No arrests were immediately made.