Staff of east Charlotte salon staying vigilant following armed robbery

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The owner of an east Charlotte salon is on high alert after two men entered her business and threatened staff members and customers at gunpoint Tuesday afternoon.

Officials said the incident happened around 3:15 p.m. at Rosita’s Salon at 925 Eastway Drive.

Channel 9 was told that a man went into the salon and said he wanted his hair colored. He then went to the bathroom, and another man entered the building with a gun.

“He said it was an assault and would shoot us if we yelled,” Merida Rosa-Flores, the owner of the salon, said.

Channel 9 was told the two men pointed a handgun and a rifle at customers and staff members -- including six adults and a 4-year-old boy -- and ordered them to lay on the ground.

Rosa-Flores said the men threatened to shoot and kill them multiple times.

“We put our hands up,” Rosa-Flores said. “He kept saying, 'I'm going to shoot all of you.'”

The men stole $400 in cash from the business, as well as wallets, phones and purses.

Channel 9 learned that the salon’s surveillance system wasn’t working during the robbery, but staff told police what they could.

Salon staff members said the front door to the business will be locked from now on and people will have to knock to get in.

“We were in shock -- so nervous that I couldn't even move,” Rosa-Flores said.

Police said they pulled over a car matching the one the suspects were in but the people inside were not the robbers.

Anchor Scott Wickersham will have a full report on the terrifying ordeal, on Eyewitness News starting at 10 p.m.

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