Police are still investigating an armed robbery Monday morning involving four suspects at the Phillips 66 Convenience Store on Ash Street.

Four unidentified suspects, one of whom was armed with a handgun, entered the business at about 3 a.m., a Columbia Police Department report stated.

“Two of the suspects forced both female employees into the cashier area,” a news release stated.

The armed suspect demanded money from the employees. The suspects then obtained an unknown amount of cash from the registers and the armed suspect then struck the employees in the back of the head with his handgun. They fled the scene on foot in a southbound direction.

About five minutes after the suspects left, one of the employees called police to report the incident, CPD spokeswoman Jill Wieneke said.

Wieneke said it is not uncommon for a victim to not report an incident immediately.

“Sometimes people are just scared to move around or get up, which is totally understandable,” she said.

The four suspects are described as black males ranging from 5-feet-8-inches to 6-feet with thin builds. They were all wearing dark clothing and had hoodies pulled tightly around their heads and their faces were covered by masks.

The victims did not require medical treatment.

The case has been assigned to an investigative unit, who is actively pursuing it, Wieneke said. Detectives will look into any surveillance footage they can get to identify the suspects.

Police ask anyone with knowledge of the incident to call Crime Stoppers at 875-TIPS with information regarding the robbery.