Employees forced into freezer during Hooters holdup

TACOMA, Wash. — Two employees at a Tacoma Hooters restaurant were forced into a freezer at gunpoint while two masked armed men robbed the store.

Tacoma police said they received a call at 7:25 a.m. from employees reporting an armed robbery at the restaurant at 6812 Tacoma Mall Boulevard in Tacoma.

The victims reported that two armed men entered the restaurant around 7 a.m. when the store’s janitor arrived and forced him into a walk-in freezer.

When the manager arrived, a gun was put to his head and he was forced to the ground and also put into the freezer, where the lock was jammed from the outside.

"There he was, confronted by a guy wearing a ski mask, a hoodie and had a gun.  And he told him to get on the ground.  They immediately took away his cellphone his keys, everything," said Tacoma police spokeswoman Loretta Cool.

The two robbers were able to access the safe and stole all the proceeds from the restaurant’s busy Super Bowl Sunday.

The two employees were able to break out of the freezer and call police.

The first robber is described as black, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall and weighing 225 pounds. He was wearing a mask, gray hooded sweatshirt, black pants and shoes, and was armed with a semi-automatic handgun.

The second robber was described only as a black man wearing a mask.

Police said they plan on going over surveillance video from inside the restaurant, but since both men were believed to have been wearing masks, they will likely be unable to identify them.

KIRO