HIRAM, Maine —
Police in a small Maine community are searching for the man who they say robbed an ice cream shop Thursday night while two teenage girls were closing up shop.
The incident happened at Route 160 Ice Cream in Hiram.
"From what I understand, they had shut the windows, it was basically eight o'clock," said Andrew Glidden, who co-owns the shop with his wife. "They grabbed the flags, came in the back door, put the flags up here and it was then he entered through the back door."
Police said the suspect was described a 200 pound man with blonde hair. He was wearing a bandanna over half of his face with jeans and a sweatshirt.
"He told the girls he had a gun, to get on the floor, told them if they moved he would kill them," said Glidden.
The two teens were scared but not hurt and didn't move until police arrived and were sure the thief had left.
The robber stole about $80 in cash, the girls' cell phones and a purse before fleeing on foot.
Although no one was physically hurt, Glidden says the robber stole a lot of the shop's spirit. He and his wife had just bought Route 160 Ice Cream in the fall.
The couple reopened it to give high school kids a place to work and to restore the business to the popular spot they remembered while growing up in the area.
"My father helped out a ton with all the updates," said Glidden. "It's been a long early spring getting everything ready."
Now, just days into its season, the shop was closed Friday as the staff had to regroup.
"You think a small community in Maine, it's never going happen here," he said. "It does, it did."
Glidden said there is a plan to move forward and will be installing security cameras which they had planned to do anyway.
With Mother's Day on Sunday, the staff expect a big weekend crowd and are excited to move forward.
"We're going to show we have a strong backbone," said Glidden.
Anyone with information about the robbery suspect is asked to contact Maine's Oxford County Sheriff's Office.