Police: Long John Silver employee assaulted

Incident happens during armed robbery

Lorain police are investigating an armed robbery at the Long John Silver restaurant where the culprits injured an employee before making off with a large sum of money.

At 9:27 p.m., April 14, police were called to a “robbery in progress,” at the restaurant located at 1420 Cooper Foster Park Road, a few miles east of state Route 58, according to the report.

One of the robbers approached an employee, a 24-year-old man, who was outside the restaurant and asked him for a cigarette, the report stated.

The man told police the robber “seemed harmless” as he approached him, the report stated.

A second man approached the employee shortly afterward.

The employee told police that he “attempted to enter the restaurant through the back door when he was attacked by both men. (The man) was unable to determine if any weapons were used during the attack,” the report stated.

The man showed signs of significant injuries and was transported to a nearby hospital.

A 44-year-old female employee, who was inside the restaurant when the robbers entered through the back door, told police the culprits immediately ordered her to lay on the floor face down and close her eyes, the report stated.

The woman saw one of the men with a handgun which included an attached flashlight and believes she felt the barrel of a gun on the back of her neck while she was laying down, the report stated.

“While (the man) was being attacked by one of the suspects, the other held (the woman) at gunpoint and ordered her to open the safe where the money was stored,” the report stated.

The woman told police the robbers were issuing orders such as “you have five seconds and began counting down,” the report stated.

The woman opened the safe and cash register drawers for the robbers and after collecting the cash, they left without further incident, the report stated.