December 21, 2007

Police are looking for a group of young men who sprayed mace inside and then robbed five stores around the metro in less than four hours Thursday evening.

Between 5:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., a TMobile store in Blaine, a TMobile store in Bloomington, a Famous Footwear in West St. Paul, a Napa Auto Parts store in Minneapolis and an Old Navy in Minneapolis were all robbed by a group of five young men.

Police in each city say the men grabbed merchandise inside the store before spraying mace and leaving. The mace mainly hit employees, but in a few stores, police say customers were also affected. No one was seriously injured.

The Tmobile store in Bloomington closed early Friday. Managers said traces of the mace made it difficult for employees to work. They plan to reopen the store Saturday morning.

Police say they have surveillance video from several of the stores.

No arrests have been made.

The original article can be found here.