A thief got ‘spooked’ and split before he could steal cash

A would-be armed robber didn’t stay to finish the job at the Papa John’s on Beaufort’s Robert Smalls Parkway shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The suspect told two employees to give him money from the register and threatened to use the knife he claimed he had, according to a Beaufort Police Department report.

When one of the employees started to use her phone to call 911, “it is believed the subject became spooked” and ran away, department spokeswoman Sgt. Hope Able said.

The suspect is described as a slender, 6-foot-tall black man, possibly in his twenties, Able said. He was wearing a gray shirt, jeans, dark shoes and a camouflaged shirt covering his head and face.

No injuries were reported and nothing was stolen, according to the report.

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 2:55 PM with the headline "A thief got ‘spooked’ and split before he could steal cash."