Hy-Vee Gas cashier refuses to open register for would-be robber

Prairie Village police today are looking for a man who burst into the Hy-Vee Gas station at State Line Road and Cambridge Street  with a weapon Monday afternoon and demanded money.

Capt. Wes Lovett of the Prairie Village Police Department told the city council last night that the woman who worked at the store refused the man’s request, “which I don’t think he was expecting,” Lovett said.

“He told her he’d kill her if she didn’t give him the money,” Lovett said. “She still didn’t do it. She got a good lecture from the Hy-Vee people afterward about how they train you to go ahead and open the register.”

Lovett said the man ran out of the store as customers entered and toward a getaway car driven by a woman.

The department’s press release on the incident is below. Lovett said security cameras captured images of the would-be robber, and those may be released to the public soon.

On October 1, 2012, at approximately 1520 hours (3:20 p.m.) officers were dispatched to an armed robbery at HyVee Gas, 7720 State Line, in Prairie Village. The suspect entered the business armed with a handgun and pointed the gun at the employee and demanded money from the register. The suspect left the store southbound on foot with an undetermined amount of money as customers entered the business. The suspect was described as a black male with a medium complexion, thin mustache and a small patch of hair on the chin. The suspect is approximately 24-26 years of age, 5’ 10” tall and of medium build and was wearing a gray hooded sweat shirt. The employee was not injured in the robbery. Customers assisted the employee by calling the police shortly after the suspect left the store.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigations Division Cpl. Eric McCullough at 913/385-4629 or the Tips Hotline at 816/474-TIPS.