Atlanta

Robbers hold employees at gunpoint at popular pizza restaurant, police say

ATLANTA — Police are investigating an armed robbery at Fellini's Pizza in Atlanta.

According to the police incident report, last Monday night, one man walked through the front door of the restaurant in Candler Park while another man used the side door. Both pointed guns at the employees and forced them to the floor, the report said.

"They put everybody on the ground, made them sit down. One dude had his gun out and the other dude was talking to the manager, making her get the money," employee Sam Burney told Channel 2's Audrey Washington. 

The robbers hit one employee with a pistol, got some cash from the register and then demanded more money from the safe, police said. None of the employees had access to the safe so the two took off in a white Chevrolet sedan, going east on McClendon Road.

Matt Schroeder lives right around the corner from the pizza place.

“I think that’s terrible. We eat here all the time with my two little kids, and it’s always been a safe pizza place for us," he said.

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Washington learned this was not the first armed robbery at the popular restaurant.

Burney said some men robbed him inside the restaurant a few years ago.

“As soon as he got close to me and saw there was money on the table, he pushed the kid, punched me in the face and grabbed the money and ran," Burney said.

Burney doesn’t think the people who robbed him are the same men in last Monday’s case, but he and others want more police patrols.

“It just seems like, it’s an easy target. It’s a restaurant that’s open late in an area where it’s the only one open that late," Schroeder said.

Police checked for surveillance video, but they say the cameras inside the restaurant were not working at the time.