Posted by news intern Sarah Anne Lloyd

Last Tuesday evening, police responded to the Salvation Army thrift store on 4th Avenue South after hearing reports that a male suspect was trying to break into the building. But by the time police arrived, a police report says, the alleged robber had already made off with the loot.

Right after the store closed at 8:00 p.m., the report says, an employee was walking from the back of the store to the front counter when she saw a man standing near the counter. After she yelled at him to leave, he ran up to another employee, who had her back to him. "The male placed his left arm around [the employee's] throat, but not tight enough to cause injury," the police records says. "He held what appeared to be a hand-held knife cutting stone in his right hand as if it were a knife. The employees "could clearly see that it was not a knife," the report adds. "He said, 'don't scream,' and 'give me money.'"

Without saying anything else, the man grabbed the $1,555 that they had been counting off the counter, exited the store and fled south on 4th Avenue S, the report says. Store employees said the suspect was a male "wearing a dark colored scarf and dark glasses."

Police officers agreed that it "appeared the male came into the store while it was open and then hid downstairs until after closing and then came up to rob them." Officers "encouraged [the employees] to consult management concerning changing the location and procedure of counting money at the end of the day instead of on the counter in plain view of the front of the store."

In related news: Seriously! Who robs a Salvation Army?