ONLY ON ABC7NEWS.COM: Video shows bold takeover robbery at San Francisco McDonald's

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco police are looking for a man who boldly broke into a fast food restaurant and made employees open the safe. The surveillance video of the takeover robbery is a story you'll see only on ABC7 News.

At 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 8, a masked man kicked in the glass of the front door of the McDonald's on Mission Street in the Ingleside District. In the video you see the man let himself in and then crouch behind a trash can and wait to make his move.

Next you see him in the kitchen, holding something in his hand while confronting employees.

"He simulated a handgun," said Officer Carlos Manfredi. "In cases like this, you never want to take the chance and think it may not be a handgun. Just comply."

That's exactly what employees did as the robber made his first demand.

"He tells that employee to open up the safe where the big money is," said Manfredi.

Police say he then forced the employee to open the cash registers.

The robber left the same way he came in, getting away with $1,200. Police say the incident took only about seven minutes.

Manfredi warns, "If he did it successfully at this one restaurant, I guarantee he's going to do it again and again and again."

Police want to catch him before that happens. They ask anyone with information to call the SFPD Anonymous Tipline at 415-575-4444.

Police describe the suspect as a black male, 30 to 40 years of age, approximately 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 250 pounds. He faces charges of robbery, false imprisonment, and kidnapping.