Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Staff report
BOARDMAN
Police continue searching for the man who pointed a gun at a local grocery-store employee about 10 p.m. Saturday.
Detectives have classified the incident at Rulli Bros., 8025 South Ave., as abduction, according to reports.
One of the store managers said his wife, who also is a manager at the store, came to the business about 8 p.m. Saturday to help employees close. About an hour later, the employees finished, and the woman let them out, locking herself in the store alone to continue doing work, police said.
Officers said they were told this is the woman’s normal routine.
The woman’s husband arrived about 10 p.m. that night, parked near the store’s doors and saw a man standing between him and the store, reports state.
The suspect pointed a handgun at the employee and repeatedly told him to “stay in the van.”
“I thought it was a joke at first,” the employee said of the gun, according to reports.
The gunman then ran on South Avenue toward Vibra Hospital.
Security-camera footage showed the suspect hiding underneath the stairwell outside the doors. A police-dog was called out Saturday night to track the suspect, but the trail ended on the side of the AT&T building, 8089 South Ave., police said.
The employee in the van said he didn’t recognize the gunman’s voice, and a store manager who arrived on the scene later said the only person he could think of as a suspect would be a three-year employee who recently was fired.
The suspect is described as a white man, about 200 pounds and 6 feet 1 inch tall and who was wearing a ski mask during the incident, police said. Anyone with information is asked to call Boardman police.