Shot fired in Butler robbery
Cheap Tobacco Outlet opened at 9 a.m. Sunday, despite being the locale of an armed robbery, involving a shot fired, a little more than 12 hours earlier.
Butler City Police responded to the store at 108 Pillow St., Butler, Saturday night shortly after store employees were robbed at gunpoint, according to employees.
Lisa Albert, the store's manager, was one of two employees working at the time of the robbery. Albert said a man entered the store wearing a Halloween mask that completely covered his face.
Albert said that after waiting for some customers to leave, the man approached the counter, slammed a bag down and told her to put money in it. Albert said she initially refused and rebuked the man for wearing a full mask, which is prohibited in the store.
“I thought it was a customer playing a prank on us,” she said.
Albert said the man got angry, pointed a pistol at her and fired a round over her right shoulder, just past her head. A bullet hole in the wall was visible behind the cashier's area while customers checked out Sunday.Albert said she gave the man whatever was in the register, and he left immediately, around 7:35 p.m. Neither she nor the other employee was injured.Albert said after the man exited, she grabbed her own gun stashed below the counter, called the police and rushed out the door to see if the man was still there.“He was gone pretty fast,” Albert said.Albert said she would have gone for the gun sooner during the altercation, but she knew her colleague was struggling and panicked. She said she felt it best to remain calm and give him what he wanted, which was whatever was in the register.“I was more concerned about my employee,” she said.Albert said the store has surveillance cameras, which were on and recording.The man is described as being roughly 5-foot, 9-inches tall with a 250-pound build. He also wore a light gray, zip-up hoodie with the hood up, and light-colored baggie pants with a different colored drawstring. The man wore black shoes and a pair of work gloves with rubberized palms colored blue.Those videos have been given to police, who arrived within minutes of the man leaving, according to Albert. She said she and the employee were at the scene with police until about 11 p.m.On Sunday, the store opened for business as usual, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Some customers looked at the bullet hole in the wall. Some had heard the news and others hadn't. Most customers asked Albert how she was doing. She replied that she was fine.Albert said she was fine to come back just one day after the ordeal.“It was my Sunday to open,” she said.
