An Indian employee at a consumer store was shot dead in California during a robbery attempt, police said.

Fifty five-year-old Surinder Kumar, who worked as a clerk at the 7-Eleven store in California's Vallejo city, was shot during a robbery on Friday, police said.

Investigators have found an undisclosed amount of cash missing from the store register, they added.

Kumar was found bleeding and unconscious behind the counter in the store by a customer who then informed the police past midnight.

Kumar was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead, the coroner's office reported.

Kumar, who immigrated to the USA from Punjab along with his family in 2000, had been working the graveyard shift at the 7-Eleven store for about six years, Sgt Vic Massenkoff said.

Though Massenkoff described the suspected robbers as two black males, police had no further details immediately available.

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 was shot twice, in the leg and the left side of his chest.