LA MESA -- A man armed with a pistol robbed an East County greeting- card store Thursday afternoon.

The thief entered Susie's Hallmark Gift Shop on Lake Murray Boulevard in La Mesa shortly before 2 p.m. and loitered until there were no more customers inside the business, then pulled a handgun and ordered employees to hand over cash, according to police.

The victims complied, and the bandit fled on foot toward Baltimore Drive with an undisclosed amount of money.

Patrol officers searched the area with help from a sheriff's helicopter crew but were unable to find the robber, who was described as a roughly 5-foot- 4-inch Asian man in his 30s, with short black hair and wearing a blue-and-white- striped shirt and large sunglasses.