By Joe Johnson
A woman who was caught shoplifting Sunday night at westside pharmacy got away when she threated employees with a knife, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report.
The incident reportedly occurred at CVS Pharmacy on Oglethorpe Avenue at about 8:30 p.m., when a woman left the store without paying for merchandise that filled a shopping cart.
When an employee attempted to stop the woman outside the store, the woman told the employee that she had a knife, according to the report.
The store manager then went out to assist the employee, at which time the shoplifter pulled out what the employee described as a switchblade knife before leaving with the cart on Oglethorpe Avenue toward the Athens Perimeter, according to the report.
Just prior to pulling the knife, which she jabbed into the air, the thief told the manager, “Y’all don’t know what I’m going through,” according to the report.
The estimated value of the stolen items was at least $150, and they included an electric razor, a CD player and toilet paper, the police report noted.
When an officer reviewed the incident on security camera footage, she saw that events unfolded just as the employees described it, according to the report.
The suspect was described as a middle-aged black female who was about 5-foot-1, 260 pounds, and wore a red/pink head wrap.
The report noted that the incident was initially reported as an armed robbery, but after the officer gathered facts about it, the case was being investigated as an aggravated assault and theft by shoplifting.