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Duo Ties Up Cashier, Robs St. Jude Religious Store In Northeast Philadelphia

By Ileana Diaz

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The search is on for two suspects who held up a Northeast Philadelphia store and tied up the 62-year-old cashier.

It happened at the St. Jude Religious Store at the 2100 block of Cottman Avenue.

One day after the frightening ordeal, the cashier is not going back -- she quit her job.

The suspects used plastic bags to tie up the woman.

It's a store where people buy holy items of worship and guidance. But instead, an elderly employee was praying for her life here after two men came in and robbed the store while her co-worker was on break.

"Went over to go get a drink and she came back and she walked in on the older lady tied up on the floor and two guys robbing her," employee Kelly O'Grady said.

Kelly O'Grady works at the St. Jude Religious Store and says someone walking by noticed suspicious activity.

"They put on all their gloves and hats and they came in and he called the police," O'Grady said.

The suspects walked away with close to $400, leaving employees on edge during a busy time for them, the week before Christmas.

"It's terrifying. I was robbed two times. So I don't even know why I came back, but I just never thought it would happen again," the employee said.

This year it's happened four times, and the woman tied up yesterday has had enough.

"She called and said she didn't want to put herself in danger again," she said.

A danger that some believe may not be so random.

"It feels like we're kind of targeted and people know that we do not have a lot of security," she said.

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