Robber Leaves With Less Than He Came In With

Courtesy of Rockford Register Star

An angry would-be robber fired a gun Friday inside the North Rockton Avenue Payless Shoe store and fled with less money than what he brought.

Police said the man walked into the store about 6 p.m. and approached the cashier with a bottle of liquid shoe polish. He gave the cashier a $5 bill. When the clerk opened the drawer to make change, the man reportedly yelled at the clerk demanding cash.

“He scared her so bad, she fell to the floor,” Sgt. Clint Kellet said of the cashier. The woman either had the presence of mind to close the cash drawer as she fell or accidentally closed it.

Either way, the man fled without the shoe polish, without the $5 bill and without the change owed. On the way out, the man fired a handgun striking no one. Police recovered the spent round.

The man is described as a black male, in his 30s, about 5-foot-10, weighing 180 pounds. He was wearing a ski cap with flaps and a three-quarters length jacket with writing on the back.

Police said the cashier was not injured.