A gun-wielding man forced a pizza delivery man to the ground and demanded money Tuesday night at about 11 p.m. at Papa John’s on College Avenue.

The employees were cleaning up and counting the money to be deposited the next day when the robber unknowingly entered through the unlocked back door and escaped with about $320 in cash, store manager Ulesis Visencio said.

The man was wearing dark clothes and a mask that covered most of his face, Prince George’s County Police spokeswoman Diane Richardson said. Visencio was called to the store at about 11:30 p.m. and the news of the robbery shocked him, he said.

“I was surprised because this is a very nice neighborhood, a lot of police,” he said. “I feel pretty safe here.”

The pizza delivery man who was held at gun-point, Jean, said he would comment if only his first name was used for fear of embarrassment for his son, a student at Maryland.

Jean had returned from his last delivery and was looking to finish up the dishes and go home for the evening. He was walking from one side of the store to the dishwasher when he felt someone grab him from behind, he said. “Someone came and grabbed me by my neck and said ‘get down,'” he said. At first Jean said he thought it was a joke but quickly realized it wasn’t when the man waved a gun in front of his face.

“I thought, who is this! Who is this!,” Jean said.

He was forced to lay on the floor face up with his legs close together and his arms spread out, palms upward.

Jean said one of the two other employees in the store at the time gave the robber money. After the robber left the store, Jean said he immediately got up an locked the back door while another employee called the police. Visencio now instructs his employees to lock the door each time a driver leaves, but does not plan to make any other changes to store operations. “I don’t see that we have to do much else,” he said. “The [robbers], when they come, they do what they want.”

The store has a video camera that points to both the backdoor and front registers. Police are viewing the video tape as part of their investigation, Vicensio was told. The investigation is ongoing.