Alleged robber escapes after barricading inside Long Beach 7-Eleven store for hours

A man who allegedly robbed a 7-Eleven store in downtown Long Beach and then barricaded himself inside for hours was able to escape authorities on Tuesday.

The situation began around 2:03 a.m. in the area of Broadway and Pine Avenue, according to the Long Beach Police Department, when employees ran outside of the store and alerted officers that a man was inside with a gun.

SWAT officers quickly arrived to surround the store and attempt to persuade the man to leave the building. The standoff continued for several hours, until about 5:20 p.m., when officers entered the business. 

Once inside, they were unable to find the suspect. They did not provide any information on where he may have gone, but said that he tunneled his way through the ceiling of the store to escape. 

The aftermath left several businesses in the same building with damage to their ceilings as well. 

"I'm guessing when he ran across, he was breaking the tile as he made his way across, and this is all the debris from the ceiling you can see," said Javier Jauregui, who owns a Pinkberry next to the 7-Eleven. 

Mike Rosetti, who owns Broadway Pizza and Grill in the same building, said that he had to clean up and air out his restaurant on Wednesday morning due to the lingering smell of tear gas. He thinks that police propped the ceiling tiles up in his business to throw tear gas into the 7-Eleven.

He says that he's still recovering from a different burglary that happened weeks ago. 

"It's hard," Rosetti said. "It's hard to make money when bad things happen all the time."

No additional details were immediately made available, and the suspect has not yet been identified. 

It's unclear what he is accused of stealing from the store before the barricade.