SANTA MARIA - A busy Tuesday afternoon inside Fischer's Fine Jewelry on Main Street turns terrifying when a man walked in with a gun and ordered everyone on the ground.
"It's not a pleasant thing", says store owner Katherine Fischer, "it's scary."
Fischer says there were three customers in the store.
"They followed directions like I did", Fischer says, "yeah everybody was kind of shaky, but nobody freaked out."
Fischer says her husband decided to grab the suspect believing the gun he was holding was fake or a toy.
"They kind of wrestled a little bit and the guy ran out", Fischer says, "and that was about it."
The suspect took off running westbound on Main Street and toward an apartment complex behind the store.
Rojean Head was about to walk inside when she saw the suspect run out of the store.
Head called 911 and was shaken up by the ordeal.
"Yes a little bit", Head says, "you don't think that type of thing is going to happen to you."
Because he was covered in clothing and wearing a mask, Santa Maria Police say they have no suspect description or surveillance camera video to work with.
Katherine Fischer says the tense encounter lasted no more than a minute.
"I didn't have the impression that this guy made a living doing this", Fischer says, "a desperate guy I guess, I don't know."
Anyone who saw the suspect running from the jewelry store at about 1:30 Tuesday afternoon should call the Santa Maria Police Department.
After going more than 30 years without a robbery, this is the second time in six months Fischer's has been hit by a holdup.
