GASTONIA, N.C. — Police are trying to find a man they said pulled a gun and held up a Walmart in Gastonia as people shopped inside Tuesday.
Police said he looked so casual, people didn't pay much attention to him.
He even walked out with the money in a Walmart bag.
One woman said she'll never forget his face. His image was capture by security cameras in the store, but he looked like an ordinary shopper.
A clerk, who asked not to be identified, saw him differently.
"I was scared. I thought he was going to shoot me," she said.
She said at first he came into the money center where she worked asking for change for a $100 bill.
She told him he had to buy something to get change.
He got groceries and came back right at 9 p.m. just after she turned out the lights of the shop inside of the store.
"He said, 'But all I want is change for this 100. Can you not just ring up this one thing?'"
She said there were customers at the other registers so she decided to help.
Tears rolled down her eyes as she said what happened after she looked down to count his change.
"He reaches across the counter like this and cocks the gun and tells me he doesn't want to hurt me, but he will if he has to. I need to put all of the money into the bag," she said.
No one else could see the gun. He told her to walk to customer service.
"I am thinking, 'This is it. He's going to shoot me.' Why else would he cock the gun if he wasn't going to use it?" she said.
Instead, he grabbed the money and walked out.
Police are concerned he pulled off an armed robbery with so many customers inside.
It could have gone bad at that point and there would have been a lot of people involved," said Sgt. Jimmy Arndt with Gastonia Police Department. "We want to stop this before it happens anymore."