Gas station cigarettes, cash and liquor taken

Cash, cigarettes and bottles of liquor were taken during an armed robbery at a gas station in Northwest Peoria early Tuesday, police said.
An employee told police he was in a back office at Huck's, 3819 W. War Memorial Drive, about 3:40 a.m. when he heard the front bell go off. When he came out to see who had walked in, he was met by a man with a mask partially covering his face, according to a police report.
The 23-year-old employee said the man pointed a gun at him, ordered him to the front and then emptied the cash drawer. The man also took money from an unlocked safe, several packs of cigarettes and four bottles of liquor.
The robber put a gun to the employee's head and ordered him to take the tape out of the store's video surveillance system, but he didn't know how to use the digital system, he told police.
When the gunman apparently thought he heard someone entering the store, he took the employee with him out the back door and made him lie down, then ran toward the tree line east of the store.