LINCOLNTON, N.C.,None — An armed man wearing a ski mask burst through the door of a local nail salon and demanded money, Lincolnton police said.
SLIDESHOW: Police Looking For Van
About 15 customers and workers were in Kim Nails, located on Stanford Road in Lincolnton, during the Thursday evening holdup, police said.
"He said, ‘This is a robbery; everybody sit still,'" said one of the members of the family that runs the salon. She did not want her name released.
She said the robber aimed his gun at her brother.
"He said, ‘Give me the money.' My brother said, ‘What money?'" she added.
Detective Mark Sain said the owner's wife yelled that the police were coming, scaring the robber away.
"He got scared and ran out the back door," Sain said.
The robber had a driver waiting for him in a van behind the store, according to police.
The owner of Kim Nails then grabbed his handgun and chased after the robber. He told Channel 9 he didn't see his daughter amid the chaos and thought she had been kidnapped.
He shot at the van, trying to hit its tires.
Heather and Cory Smithey were in the parking lot with their children when the shop owner opened fire.
"People (were) screaming, (and) the kids were crying," Heather Smithey said.
"It was just unbelievable," Cory Smithey said. "I felt like I was in the 1800s, in the wild, wild West."
The shop owner said he stopped shooting as soon as he saw his daughter.
Police said they understand the man was trying to protect his family but that he went about it the wrong way.
"He shouldn't have done that," Sain said. "There were innocent people there. You don't know where the bullets are going."
Police have yet to decide whether the shop owner will face charges for firing a gun with so many people around.
Police said the robber escaped in a small white work van. He is described as a white man who was wearing a white T-shirt, black pants or blue jeans and a black ski mask. The van in which he escaped is thought to be a GMC Safari mini work van, according to investigators.
A camera at a nearby business caught the van on camera, police said.
Investigators ask that anyone with information about the robber or the van call the Lincolnton Police Department at 704-736-8900 or Crime Stoppers at 704-736-8909.
WSOC
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