Police Rush Store but Armed Robber Flees

Police rushed a vitamin store Monday thinking that an armed robber may have been holed up inside, but the man had fled with an unknown amount of cash, authorities said.

The man, wielding a gun, came into the GNC nutrition center about 2:30 p.m. and forced a female clerk to stay at the back of the store, said Officer Jason Lee of the LAPD’s Van Nuys Division. The woman “fled through the back door and contacted officers from a phone next door,” Lee said.

Because the employee and other witnesses had not seen the man leave the store, police believed he might have barricaded himself inside. The officers surrounded the store, located in a minimall in the 17200 block of Saticoy Street, but when they entered at about 4:20 p.m., the robber was gone.