DALLAS _ At least five to seven armed suspects in masks broke into a Houston restaurant, terrorized customers inside and got away with at least $30,000 in cash and valuables Tuesday morning, Houston police said.
The gunmen shot through a locked front door around 2 a.m., shortly after Bombay Express had closed for the night, police said.
Once inside, the robbers held everyone at gunpoint and eventually gained access to the back of the restaurant where at least eight to 10 customers had locked themselves inside a gaming room, police said.
The suspects fired shots into the air then robbed the customers, police said, taking valuables, cellphones and surveillance equipment.
Victims told Houston television station KTRK that the suspects kicked them and pistol-whipped some of them in the head and face.
"They hit everybody. They tried to kill us," one person who did not provide a name told KTRK. "I thought, 'We're all gonna die tonight.' It's so traumatizing, like it was your last day."
One man who didn't give his name told the Houston Chronicle that the suspects took a gold necklace from him and $4,000 in cash.
"They were saying, 'Give me all the money, give me all the money,'" the man said, according to the Chronicle.
The suspects then drove off in a stolen vehicle that they abandoned at a Dairy Queen next door, police said. They ran across the street to a white SUV and fled the scene.
The surveillance equipment was found in the vehicle left at the Dairy Queen, along with a mask and a gun, police said.
Police are still searching for the robbers, who spoke Spanish and English, according to witnesses.
