Three men tried to rob a Dallas CVS pharmacy, ordering employees and customers to the ground early Friday morning, police say. [[322489432,C]]
Lawrence Mwamba, the manager of the CVS on the 6100 block of East Mockingbird Lane, opened the back door to take the trash out at about 1 a.m. and was confronted by three masked men.
Police said the men told Mwamba to take them to the safe.
"One of the ones with the gun said, ‘We need all the money. You’re going to take us to where the money is,’" Mwamba said.
Mwamba ran to the 24 Hour Hillside Vet Clinic, about 200 yards away. He never looked back, thinking a gunman was chasing him. The men, meanwhile, entered the store and told everyone to lie down on the ground.
"He actually got inside and cocked the gun and made them lie on the floor," Mwamba said. "And it hit me, 'I need to get to the animal clinic and call the cops.' So I ran."
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Officers arrived a few minutes later and found four employees and at least one customer on the ground in the store.
Police said the men ran without taking anything and did not even try to steal any drugs.
Mwamba said police told him his decision to run to a phone might have saved lives.
"The gentleman was saying, by me running out like that, it saved everyone, because that’s when they left the store," he said. "They knew I was going to get help."
When Mwamba arrived at the vet's office, it was surprisingly busy.
“There were clients here, there was a surgery in progress,” said Vet Tech Jenny Rodas.
Rodas buzzed a breathless and visibly scared Mwamba inside the lobby.
“He thought he was being pursued, that’s why he encouraged me to get down behind the counter,” she said. “He told me to call 911 right away. And he was saying there were gunman outside the whole time.”
“I think he did a very brave thing. A lot of people freeze up, I think. But he saw an opportunity to make a run for it and he did it. He might have saved a whole lot of lives, who knows,” Rodas added.
No injuries were reported.
NBC 5's Jeff Smith contributed to this report.
