Gunman in Quincy Market holds up candle store, flees

Ryan Dost, 18, clerk at the Sluggers Upper Deck Kiosk at Quincy Market said he noticed the black baseball cap with its sleek black emblem. The fact that the man wearing the cap was dressed head to toe in black made him look "really sketchy," Dost said.

Fifteen minutes later, police rushed into the Yankee Candle Co. store on Quincy Market's lower tier. It had been robbed.

The suspect, a slender black male standing about 5-foot-6, believed to be in his mid 30s and wearing black glasses, a black button- down shirt, and black pants, had showed a salesclerk a gun in his bag, according to a flier a security guard handed to merchants.

"This is a holdup," he said just before 1 p.m. yesterday, according to the alert issued by Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which oversees Quincy Market's shops.

Boston police said the man gave one of two clerks a candle to ring up, so the cash register would open and then ordered both clerks to the ground. He took an undetermined amount of cash and fled toward State Street, according to the Marketplace alert.

The two salesclerks ran to the Destination Boston stand upstairs, where Robert Pedroza, 24, was selling Boston paraphernalia.

"I'm just going to be scared of him coming back," Pedroza said. "Honestly, I wouldn't know what to do."

In their alert, market officials said police told them a man matching the suspect's description had committed similar acts downtown, but they did not provide any details.

Gavin McCarrell, 20, who works at a Godiva Chocolatier in a building facing Quincy Market, was not surprised by the robbery. The day before, a man waiting in line with two boxes of assorted chocolates had bolted.

After learning of yesterday's gunman, McCarrell did not take extra precautions.

"This area's pretty safe," he said. "I'm not going to wear a bulletproof vest or anything."

After the clerk who had been at the Yankee Candle register left, the other continued to sell juicy-peach-scented candles as "Twist and Shout " played in the background. Security guards hovered nearby.

At 4 p.m., two hours earlier than the usual closing time, she wearily leaned against the back counter.

In a few minutes, said the clerk who did not give her name, she would close for the day and then "go and hide myself, where I don't have to see or hear anyone."

April Yee can be reached at ayee@globe.com.