Raleigh police search for 2 armed men after store robbery
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Employees at a Lowes grocery store were held up for hours after police say two armed robbers were somehow able to get into the store while it was closed.
It happened early Saturday morning at the store on Louisburg Road in North Raleigh.
Sara Bell and her boyfriend just finished getting breakfast when they went by the Lowes and saw the place was swarmed with officers.
"There were probably 10 or 15 cop cars," said Bell. "We had no idea what was going on, it looked like the lights were on inside."
Police say the robbers were wearing masks. They got inside the store while it was closed, but there were two employees inside working. The robbers demanded money from the safe. After learning that the two workers were not able to open it, the armed robbers held up the employees and waited. Some four hours later, when there was a shift change and someone was able to access the cash, the employees were released.
The men fled the scene. Police are only able to offer a description of one of the armed robbers. He is about 5'7", weighs 160-170 pounds, and has a thin but muscular build.
Sam Botros owns Roadrunner Pizza. It's in the same shopping center as Lowes. He's concerned now something similar might happen at his business.
"The area here is so nice and so quiet and so safe. We never experienced anything like that before," said Botros.
Bells, just the same, is a little worried but it's not stopping her. Hours after she pulled up to a crime scene, she returned to Lowes to grab an item.
"I'll keep shopping here," said Bell. "We just moved to the area and it seems like a pretty safe area, lots of families along this road."
Police aren't saying how much money was taken by the armed robbers. We are told the employees were not physically injured.
