A robber and his accomplice are on the run after a violent robbery on the west side. Police have released surveillance video from the Dollar General that showed two female clerks pulled around the store by their hair, then shoved to the ground.
Days later, the women are back at work, but Julie Joest fears working a night shift again.
“It was real hard walking in the door,” she said. “But right now, I need the money and jobs are hard to come by right now.”
Joest never thought she'd be back at work, let alone alive -- after those horrible minutes that haunt her every night.
“The whole time he was doing it, he just kept saying ‘I’m going to kill you guys,’” said Joest.
Surveillance video captured Joest leaving the cash register and heading out to sweep some rugs. When she went to stand up, the robber was right in her face. He threw Joest to the ground.
The video then showed the masked suspect grabbing Joest by her hair. With a gun to her head, the man asked her to find the store manager at the back.
“He pulled me by my hair, he asked for the manager and I said, ‘She's somewhere back, I don't know,’” said Joest. “I didn't want to tell where she was at, but I didn't have a choice.”
“Any time you assault anyone, but particularly women, there's no call for that,” said Officer Kendale Adams with IMPD.
The two women were forced to the front of the store where the suspect demanded they open the store’s safe and empty the cash register. Meanwhile, a female customer was thrown onto a display case and Joest was kicked to the ground.
“'I'm going to blow your brains out’ is what he kept saying,” said Joest. “I just see my life flash before my eyes and I thought I was going to die.”
As the manager was opening the cash register, the suspect got a surprise of his own - a car had pulled in.
“All of a sudden, there were lights outside, car lights,” said Joest. “I don't know what he was thinking, if he thought it was the police but he said, "Did you guys press the button?’”
Police said two shots were fired at the car. The two men were able to drive off unharmed. When Joest saw the robber run too, the women knew it was safe to call police.
“I just want him to pay for what he did to us,” she said tearfully. “It was just terrible.”
Joest said she still suffers from headaches from the man pulling her hair. She also had some scrapes on her left arm from being dragged on the floor.
One of the suspects is describes as being bald, 5’8 to 5’9 and 160 pounds. There weren't any good shots of the actual robber's face. If you know who the men are, call Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.
