A man claiming to be armed with a handgun stole prescription drugs from a CVS pharmacy in San Diego’s City Heights area Friday morning, police confirmed.
The incident happened around 8:30 a.m. at the CVS located at 4404 El Cajon Blvd.
According to the San Diego Police Department, the suspect walked into the store and made his way to the pharmacy section in the back.
Claiming to be armed with some type of handgun, officials said the man then demanded several types of prescription drugs from a lone pharmacist behind the counter.
After receiving a bag full of prescription drugs, the man fled the store and was last seen heading westbound on El Cajon Blvd.
Responding officers immediately began canvassing the area for the man, but he was not immediately located.
NBC 7 spoke with the pharmacy employee involved in the incident, who wished to remain anonymous. She said the suspect, who threatened to be armed, told her she should give him whatever he wanted.
He then proceeded to give the employee very specific instructions as to what he wanted, which makes the employee think the man is a regular customer at the CVS store, or at the very least has been observing and is familiar with the pharmacy.
According to the employee, the suspect pointed to the third shelf from the bottom of a drug counter and demanded three bottles of cough syrup with codeine, specifically promethazine with codeine.
The employee said the robbery happened when the pharmacy first opened up for the day, and she was the only one working, though a manager was also in the store.
The woman described the suspect to police as a man in his mid-20s, about 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, wearing a baseball cap with a black hoodie over it and dark green sweatpants. He had tattoos on his hands.
She said that though the man claimed he had weapons, she never saw a gun, nor did he brandish one.
Just a few doors down from the CVS is Hoover High School. Officials confirm the school did not go into lockdown following the robbery, but students outside the school were asked to go inside the building as police canvassed the area for the suspect.
