Azeem Chatta, left, owner of the EZ Stop on North Main Street in Butler, along with his father and an employee, helps place plywood on the broken front glass door to his store, which city police say was burglarized shortly before 6:30 a.m. Sunday.

A pair of alleged burglars a little after dawn Sunday busted into a Butler convenience store and made off with a safe containing several thousands of dollars, city police said.

But the duo didn't get far after the suspected caper at the EZ Stop on North Main Street at West Penn Street.

A burglar alarm just before 6:30 a.m. alerted officers, who spotted the suspected crooks driving away in the getaway car. At a dead end, they got out and ran, police said, but both were nabbed.

The defendants — Matthew J. Cline, 36, and Trevor G. Walker, 30, both of Butler — are in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bond each. Both are facing a list of charges including several felonies.

“It's unfortunate these kinds of things happen,” said Azeem Chatta, who has owned the store for about a year. “I work hard and always try to help the community.”

The safe, he told the Butler Eagle, weighed 400 to 500 pounds. He told police that it contained more than $6,000 and was under a counter in the back of the store, bolted to the floor.

Police said they answered the alarm — about half an hour before the store was to open — and when they got there they noticed the front door had been smashed in. They also noticed a car with two occupants leaving the area, speeding west on West Penn Street.

Patrolman Benjamin Rogers turned around and began pursuing the car, police said. He activated his emergency lights and siren after the suspects ran a stop sign.

The pursuit continued onto North Washington Street and then West Fulton Street, which led to a dead end. The car stopped, police said, and the two occupants, later identified as Cline and Walker, got out and ran. So did a dog that was with them.

Read more about the chase in Monday's Butler Eagle

Trevor Walker and Matthew Cline