Masked men rob Oak Park 7-Eleven at gunpoint for $70

OAK PARK, Mich. (WJBK) - Two thieves were caught on camera holding up a 7-Eleven in Oak Park and shoving a gun in the clerk's face to steal cash and cigarettes as terrified customers ducked behind shelves.

Oak Park Police say just before 11 o'clock Saturday, all things were normal for employees and customers inside the 7-Eleven on Coolidge and 11 mile. When the two masked men came through the doors and waved guns, that all changed. Doug was shopping inside the store at the time, he asked us not to use his full name.

"I just happened to look to my left and saw this silver gun pointed at the cashier. My mind wasn't really processing that I was experiencing this," he said. "I think it was sort of full on shock about the situation."

Panic set in for the 33-year-old. He was just there to get a Gatorade and some chocolate milk and was in the back of the store by the coolers. He said he kneeled behind a display and hid as the two men shouted their demands.

"I was just hoping they weren't going to start wandering around or ya know get people up to the front, I was hoping I wouldn't be seen," he said.

Doug watched as one of the masked men forced a female customer away from the counter at gunpoint. He was just feet away and wondered what would happen next.

"Being 10 steps from someone pointing a gun at another person, it's not something you tend to experience and it's hard to forget," he said.

Surveillance video shows one of the men knocking over a display as they both get away with cash. Oak Park Police Lt. Troy Taylor says they don't have any video from outside the store and need the public's help.

"We don't know if they were in any kind of vehicle so what we wish is that the public can point us in the right direction," Taylor said.

A woman came inside shortly after the criminals were gone and appears to point which direction they were headed. Meanwhile, police were pulling up to the scene and Doug was still hiding.

"I really didn't know when to reappear. I didn't know if it was over," he said.

Nobody was injured in the robbery and Doug says he can't imagine what the clerk was going through.

"He seemed very shook up afterward. He said he actually heard the gun click into place."

As the two men run, Doug wonders about what could have been a deadly robbery - for just $70.