CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Police are continuing to look for the suspect in the Sunday morning armed robbery of a Clearlake grocery store.
Ray’s Food Place was the target of the robbery, as Lake County News has reported.
Clearlake Police Lt. Tim Celli said officers were dispatched to the store, located at 15930 Dam Road, at 7:30 a.m. Sunday on the report of an armed robbery with shots being fired.
Celli said when officers arrived they contacted a store employee and learned that the suspect – believed to be a white adult male wearing camouflage clothes, a ball cap and a black face mask – walked into the grocery store carrying a rifle.
The suspect ordered a store employee to hand over money and then fired a single shot into the store’s ceiling, Celli said. The store employee handed money over to the suspect, who then began to leave.
As the suspect was leaving the store, a second employee confronted the suspect and attempted to wrestle the rifle from him but was unsuccessful, Celli said.
Celli said the suspect continued out of the store and then fired two more rounds at store windows, causing them to shatter. The suspect then headed southbound on foot, through the parking lot and into an adjacent field.
Officers used two separate police dogs to track the suspect’s direction. Celli said the K9s tracked the suspect’s trail to a turnout area east of Dam Road where it is believed the suspect got into a vehicle and fled in an unknown direction.
As of Monday morning, Celli said there was no further description on the vehicle.
He said the suspect is believed to be a white male, approximately 6 feet tall and 180 pounds.
The amount of money stolen is being withheld for investigatory reasons, Celli said.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251. Callers may remain anonymous.