Man arrested in armed-robbery attempt of central Fresno Rite Aid

A Fresno man is in jail after attempting to steal from a Rite Aid Pharmacy in central Fresno and then threatening store employees with a knife after they confronted him on Friday, police said.

Officers responded to a 911 call at 9:10 p.m. when a Rite Aid employee said a man had tried to cut security tags from electronic merchandise in an attempt to steal it, but he was confronted by store workers, police said.

The suspect ran from the store empty handed, and an employee gave police his description.

Responding officers were less than a minute away when the call was dispatched, and were able to locate the suspect near the intersection of Shields and Cedar avenues, police said. The suspect was taken into custody without incident and the weapon was recovered.

Store employees identified the man as Israel Rodriguez, 22, of Fresno. He was arrested on an allegation of attempted armed robbery and was booked into Fresno County Jail.

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Man arrested in armed-robbery attempt of central Fresno Rite Aid."