By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
LINCOLN PARK — Police are looking for two men seen on surveillance footage committing an armed robbery at an auto parts store and leaving three employees bound with zip ties.
According to police reports, two employees and a manager were near the front counter of Auto Zone, 1555 Fort St., preparing to close at 9:30 p.m. Nov. 21, when two men entered the store.
Both men were armed with handguns, and one immediately said, “Get down on the floor. This ain’t no … game.”
The employees were told to “slide to the back,” and they crawled toward the rear of the store toward the office. Having identified one of the employees as the manager, one of the men demanded the combination to a safe in the office with the threat, “It better be the right one or you’re going to die tonight.”
After the safe was opened, the two gunmen zip-tied the employees’ hands behind their backs then left the building with an undisclosed amount of cash from the safe, although no money was reported taken from the register.
The three employees were able to slip their hands out of the restraints and called police. Responding officers walked a police dog around the area, who followed tracks across a grassy island, into a parking garage before losing the scent at the intersection of O’Connor and Electric.
Police described the gunmen as black, about 6 feet tall, 200 pounds and wearing all black clothing and ski masks. Each held what was described as a chrome semi-automatic pistol.
Anyone with information is asked to call Lincoln Park Police at 313-381-1800 or Crime Stoppers of Michigan — which is offering a cash reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest — at 800-SPEAK-UP.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected].)