JONESBORO, Ga. — Police are searching for the armed robbers who forced employees and customers into a freezer at a Clayton County restaurant Thursday night.
Police told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri the robbers also held a gun to the manager's head for 15 minutes and threatened to kill her.
Police say it was during the busy evening commute when two men with masks on their faces went into a Domino's on Tara Boulevard.
Viteri saw pizzas dropped on the floor at the Domino's. Police say two men with semi-automatic guns went inside just after 4 p.m. and robbed two customers, then ordered them and three employees into the freezer.
"That's a disgrace. That is totally wrong over here, and I'm sorry that that happened," customer Patrick Wilson said.
Police say the gunmen brought the assistant manager out of the freezer to open the safe.
According to investigators, the process takes around 15 minutes, and the men were pushing the gun against the worker's head and threatening to kill her if she couldn't get it open fast enough.
"She did comply, but she was assaulted with the pistol. She was hit in the head and about the back," said Jonesboro Police Chief Franklin Allen.
Allen said the gunmen didn't realize an employee inside the freezer had a way to call for help once the men left.
"They failed to take her cellphone and Bluetooth, and she was able to call 911 from inside the freezer," Allen said.
Police said no one was seriously hurt. They believed the men left from the back and had a car waiting next door.
Allen said he's going to make changes to the department's patrol strategy in that area to try to cut down on crimes like this.