Three masked gunmen robbed employees at a restaurant and bar before opening Monday morning down the street from two schools in Minnetonka, and the hunt is on for the suspects, authorities said.
The pistol-packing men entered through the back door of the Lone Spur Grill and Bar at 11032 Cedar Lake Road shortly before 10 a.m., about an hour before the business opens, said Police Chief Mark Raquet.


Three masked gunmen robbed employees at a restaurant and bar before opening Monday morning down the street from two schools in Minnetonka, and the hunt is on for the suspects, authorities said.


The men "may have assaulted employees" as they took the victims' wallets and cellphones, Raquet added. The employees declined medical attention, the chief added.


The trio tried to break into the office safe but failed, police added.


A longtime employee showed up for work at the front and "I saw a body on the floor, and he wasn't moving," she said.


Accompanied by a food distribution representative who showed up about the same time, the worker said the two of them decided "let's get out of here and call 911."


The employee said four cooks were roughed up, at least one of them struck with a pistol. All four were being interviewed by police at the restaurant as morning's end drew near, she said.


Lone Spur general manager Ali Mishkee said the back door is routinely left unlocked before regular business hours so deliveries can be brought in without interruption. It was between deliveries when the gunmen entered, Mishkee added.


Mishkee said the cooks who were victimized are "doing all right. They are a little rattled, as anybody would be under the circumstances, threatened at gunpoint."


While police remained on the scene into the afternoon, the Lone Spur has yet to open on St. Patrick's Day, one of the restaurant's busiest days of the year. Mishkee has seen numerous people drive up around lunchtime only to turn around and leave.


"It's a double whammy, insult to injury," Mishkee said.


The scene of the crime is just west of Hopkins High School and North Junior High School. Given security already in place, no further precautions at either school were needed, a Hopkins School District official said.


Joining Minnetonka officers in the hunt for the suspects was a police canine detail from nearby Plymouth.