Man allegedly breaks into Colorado corporate offices, causes "major damage"

Authorities in the southern Denver metro area are looking for a man they suspect broke into the corporate offices of the Safeway Albertsons grocery chain Saturday morning and caused water to flood parts of the building.

Units from South Metro Fire Rescue first responded at 9:30 a.m. to the offices at 6900 S. Yosemite Street in Centennial. It was a fire alarm call, per a South Metro spokesman, but no fire was found. 

Rather, crews saw a person running away from them inside the building. Several fire alarms had been pulled and the building's fire sprinkler system activated. Worse, the man alleged damaged the building's plumbing, contributing further to overall water damage. 

Firefighters, suspicious of the circumstances, withdrew from the building and called for law enforcement, South Metro Fire Rescue confirmed.

The man reportedly left the building by the time Greenwood Village Police Department and Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office personnel made it to the scene.

"The man fled just as deputies arrived," the sheriff's office stated on social media. "He was last seen walking away from the west side of the building."

The man is described as a white male, 30-40 years old, thin build, balding, wearing a grey T-shirt, blue jeans and flip flops. He was inside the building for about an hour and caused "major damage," according to the sheriff's office. 

Safeway corporate representatives did not respond Saturday to messages about the incident. The union representing thousands of grocery store workers in Colorado and Wyoming says it's reached a tentative deal with Safeway ownership a month ago to end a strike impacting unionized workers at around 50 stores across Colorado.