Police: Man in surgical mask suspected in Rock Hill burglary, attempted burglary

An man wearing a surgical mask broke into one business and tried to break into a second business, according to Rock Hill police.

A delivery driver called police from McAlister’s Deli on Addison Avenue about 7 a.m. Friday, according to a police report. He told officers he arrived at the restaurant to make his delivery and found a hand truck sitting next to a broken glass door.

The office door inside the restaurant was open and cash drawers were all over the floor, police said. A restaurant manager said an unknown amount of cash was missing from each drawer.

The manager told officers he received a call from the alarm company about 5:45 a.m. but didn’t call police because he thought it was one of the delivery drivers, who usually set the alarm off.

Surveillance footage showed a black man wearing a tan hat, a surgical mask, dark T-shirt, dark pants and dark boating shoes enter the restaurant, police said. He was wearing gloves and was seen pulling out the cash drawers and taking cash from each drawer.

A second manager told officers the office door was locked but that the safe wasn’t.

Officers responded to Academy Sports + Outdoors on CrossPointe Drive about 8:40 a.m. Saturday to follow up on an alarm call they received around 4:30 a.m., according to a report. The store employee said officers were already on scene after the alarm call and that everything appeared in order inside the store.

The employee said it wasn’t until later in the morning that she found a brick lying on top of one of the chair displays outside the store and scratch marks on a window above the chairs, police said. Surveillance footage showed someone outside the window around the time the alarm went off.

The suspect matched the description of the McAlister’s burglary suspect and was also wearing a surgical mask, police said.

No arrests have been made, and police believe the same suspect is responsible for both incidents.

Anyone with information on the suspect’s identity is asked to call the Rock Hill Police Department at 803-329-7293.

This story was originally published June 20, 2016 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Police: Man in surgical mask suspected in Rock Hill burglary, attempted burglary."