Cellphone Store Manager Springs Into Action During Frightening Armed Robbery

CHICAGO (CBS) -- There is dramatic video of an armed robbery showing the moment employees at a cellphone store in Northlake feared for their lives.

Thursday afternoon, one of the employees greets two men. He thinks something is off because one of them is opening a door with a glove.

The employee leads them to the back with all the merchandise where he finds his two unsuspecting coworkers.

"They asked us to come out, held us at gunpoint and told us to lay down on the ground," said the store owner.

The whole time panic was running through his head.

"You just worry about, are they going to get agitated, is something going to startle them," the owner said.

Meanwhile, the two men start stuffing a plastic bag with goods, wiping down every surface they touch.

Until the owner comes up with a genius plan from the ground. And it was enough to get them out of there.

"They got a little worried. About 15 seconds they decided to leave and said 'hey we've got someone watching the door so stay down," he said.

That allowed them to spring into action and call the police.

In just around four minutes, the men stole $17,000 to $25,000 worth of cell phones and merchandise. But the store owner said stuff is just stuff.

"A new phone will come out, people will forget about it, but at the end of the day, I only have one staff," he said.

The video was handed to CBS 2 in hopes that the men get caught so that it doesn't happen to anyone else.

If you know anything about them or the heist, call Northlake police.