By BEN LUNDIN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – The St. John Sheriff’s Office is searching for an unknown black male who allegedly knocked down a clerk at a LaPlace gas station, stole a bag of money and fled the scene.

At approximately 6 a.m., an employee at the Shell gas station, located at 4309 Main St., walked out of the building and into the rear parking lot with a money bag the clerk planned to deposit at a office behind the gas station.

The man, described as thin and tall, allegedly shoved the clerk to the ground and snatched the money bag. He ran off into a vehicle the clerk described as dark and headed northbound on Highway 51.

The case is under investigation and police would not release all the details of the incident, including the amount of stolen money.