HAZELWOOD, MO (KTVI) – Two would-be robbers climbed into a McDonald’s drive-thru window early Thursday morning looking for cash, but they left empty handed.
At 5:30 a.m., two suspects wearing ski masks pulled up to the drive-thru window at the McDonald’s in the 7200 block of Gravois in South St. Louis and climbed through it into the cashier’s station.
Both had guns and demanded the manager open the safe.
“I came out and saw all of the police cars over here and thought, ‘I’m sure they got robbed,’” said Terri Brewer, who lives close to the restaurant.
Brewer said she comes to that McDonald’s almost every day to get her morning coffee. But for some reason, she decided to make her own coffee Thursday morning.
When she came to the restaurant later in the day, she said the employees involved told her what happened.
“The one guy who had the gun on the manager was trying to get the safe open, but she couldn’t get the safe open, she was too nervous, so they grabbed her purse, looked at it, and threw it down,” Brewer said. “They were in and out probably for a minute to a minute and a half.”
Thursday’s robbery is similar to several others over the past few months at several McDonald’s restaurants throughout the St. Louis area.
Descriptions of the cars, the masks and the number of robbers vary, but the basic scenario is the same; jump into the drive-thru window, pull a gun and demand someone open the safe.
In one case, an employee was shot in the leg.
A spokesperson for the Greater St. Louis and Metro-East McDonald’s owners group said they’re cooperating with law enforcement and that safety of their employees and customers is their first priority.
The suspects are described as two black males, one wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and both wearing blue work pants.
They were driving a newer model Mazda SUV.
If you have information, you’re asked to call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS.
