Manhunt triggered

Alarm in shoe store: boss catches money thief

Alexandra T. chased away two perpetrators in her store in Oberwart.(Bild: Christian Schulter)

Alexandra T. had a nasty surprise in her store in Oberwart. While a criminal pretended to be a customer and distracted her, an accomplice sneaked into the salesroom and stole her money. The shopkeeper's courageous intervention triggered a major police manhunt.

Two criminals acted like hardened professionals during their coup in the middle of Oberwart. Disguised as a customer, one perpetrator entered Alexandra T.'s store at around 4 p.m. on Monday and asked for children's shoes in English. At the back of the shop, he took a model from the shelf and engaged the manager in a conversation about the right shoe size.

Crime scene was spied on
Only later did it become clear that the tall, muscular man was there to distract the shop assistant. While the "customer" was trying to attract all the attention, his accomplice sneaked into the store and got on all fours to get T.'s wallet, which was in her handbag under the work desk.

Trick quickly seen through
When his white baseball cap, which he was wearing backwards on his head, could be seen just above the wooden table, the intruder was noticed. The person caught also pretended to be a harmless customer. Alexandra T. confronted him. "I noticed that my wallet was in my handbag vertically rather than horizontally. All the banknotes, a total of 300 euros, were gone," she explains.

She took flight
"Really, did you take the money from me?" the victim asked the thief fearlessly. "The man who was crouching in front of me looked at me in bewilderment and ran off shortly afterwards," reports Alexandra T. Meanwhile, the suspected accomplice calmly walked to the exit and disappeared. "Everything he wanted to know from me about the children's shoes suddenly no longer interested him," says the boss.

Cell phone photos of the perpetrators
The shopkeeper reacted quickly. She still had enough time to take photos of the two suspects on her cell phone. The victim immediately alerted the police. A manhunt was launched throughout the district, but there was no trace of the criminals. Not far from T.'s store, a market had recently been hit by burglars.