KANSAS CITY – A Kansas man who shot his way out when a gas station clerk tried to lock him in the store was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Nathaniel Germany, 27, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of carjacking and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. In his plea, Germany admitted that on Sept. 1, 2015, he pointed a gun at a driver parked at the BP Gas Station at 900 N. 5th Street in Kansas City, Kan. Germany took the driver’s car and fled.

On Sept. 7, 2015, a clerk at the BP Gas Station recognized Germany when he came into the store with another man. The clerk, who was behind bullet-resistant glass, used a button to lock the men in the store while he called police. Germany produced a .40 caliber handgun and fired two shots into a glass door in order to escape.

Three days later, Germany’s parole officer recognized him and his tattoos from surveillance photos and notified police, who arrested Germany.

Beall commended the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Kansas Department of Corrections, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Assistant U.S. Attorney Terra Morehead for their work on the case.