Anchorage robber pulls knife on store employee, drops keys to getaway car

An Anchorage hardware store faced an armed robbery after an employee confronted a man trying to steal items. However, the suspected thief didn't get away as planned, after he dropped the keys to his getaway car inside the business.

In an alert, Anchorage police say that the ACE Hardware store on Muldoon called in the incident just before noon on Monday. They say after the employee spoke to the man with their suspicions of theft, the suspect pulled out a knife and threatened the employee with it.

After threatening the employee with a knife, the man took off, exiting the store and getting into his vehicle. However, he was unable to drive away, because when he was fleeing the store, he dropped his keys along the way.

"As a result, he fled on foot," police wrote in the alert. The employee threatened with a knife then found the suspect's keys. He was not reportedly injured.

The man was described as an adult male in his 30's with a lazy right eye and a short red or brown beard. He was wearing a black baseball hat, black zip-up sweatshirt jacket, white undershirt and blue jeans, police say.

The vehicle, a green 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, has been impounded as evidence.

Police are asking anyone who saw the incident, or may know anything about the suspect, to come forward.

The same store was victimized during a robbery where

In that robbery, an employee of the store actually followed the robber outside, and shot him twice. He was later arrested by police and subsequently sentenced to 28 years in jail.