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MONROE — David Schrul missed having Thanksgiving dinner with his family Thursday, Nov. 27, but the 51-year-old Middletown man said he's just thankful to still be alive.

Schrul, a manager at the Kroger gas station on Heritage Green Drive, said he was taking out the station's trash at about 4:45 p.m. Thursday when someone followed him back inside the building.

"I felt something in the lower part of my back and was told, 'Don't be brave, and don't be stupid,'" said Schrul, a three-year Kroger employee.

Schrul said the robber ordered him to walk to the front of the station and pull down the blinds.

After that, the employee said he was told to put dollar bills into a plastic Kroger bag and to not bother collecting the change.

The robber then told Schrul to walk backward and place the bag full of money in a chair, all the while warning Schrul not to look at him.

Schrul said he followed all the robber's orders and thought about his family throughout the whole ordeal.

"I felt something at my back, and I'm not going to be brave or stupid," Schrul said Friday. "I've got three kids and this wasn't worth it to me because I don't need to get shot or paralyzed."

The robber bound Schrul's hands in front of him with holiday wrapping tape and told him to sit on the floor.

Once Schrul was sitting on the ground, the robber straddled him to tape his mouth shut and bind his lower legs near his ankles.

As the robber was leaving, he told Schrul not to move for three minutes.

Shortly after that, Schrul said he saw an older woman coming toward the station's window and that was when he pushed the panic button for help. Schrul said he crawled to the back door and managed to use his feet to open it.

As he crawled outside, a customer helped free him from his restraints. Police said while the first customer was freeing Schrul from the tape, another customer telephoned 911.

The robbery suspect is described as a 6-foot-2 white male with grayish blond hair, police said. He was wearing a toboggan, blue jeans and a black and gray flannel jacket. He also appeared to have facial hair, possibly a mustache, police said.

No one saw a vehicle fleeing the scene or which direction the suspect might have fled on foot, police said.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Monroe police at (513) 539-9234 or leave an anonymous tip by calling the Crime Hotline at (513) 360-2211.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or erichter@coxohio.com.