An Oakland SWAT team has cleared the scene of a CVS near 51st Street and Broadway where a man was possibly holed up inside the pharmacy.
Police said they watched security video from inside the store that showed the man in question leaving the premises. They were doing a final sweep of the store at 11 a.m. to make 100-percent sure there was no one inside, but said they expected to be able to give the all clear by lunchtime.
Witnesses said a man wearing a ski mask walked into the store around 6:40 a.m., which is before the store actually opened.
The person reportedly asked to see the manager.
Employees and the manager immediately left the building saying that they feared it was a robbery attempt.
Everyone was able to make it out safely, according to police.
Police surrounded the building and waited.
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The assumption was that he had a gun even though none was spotted. At one point, an officer spoke on a megaphone, to let the man know the building was surrounded. The officer also said, "Come out with his hands up."
There was no response.
SWAT arrived around 9:30 a.m. and in the end performed a sweep of a completely empty store, according to the police spokesperson.
A Starbucks located in the line of sight of the CVS was also closed for the morning, as was the entire strip mall.
Several people were waiting to get to their cars that were stuck behind the police line.
Police said they would still like to know what motivated the man to enter the store so early in the morning wearing a ski mask. They said it did not appear he took anything.
