Sheriff’s deputies set a tracking dog on the trail of an armed robber who assaulted a hair salon employee in Hazel Dell on Thursday night, but the gunman escaped with a customer’s $40, police said.Deputies rushed to the Hair and Nail Place in the 6400 block of Northeast Highway 99 at 6:54 p.m. Thursday, said Sgt. Linda Hayes with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.A man had walked in, displayed a silver semiautomatic pistol and demanded money. When an employee told him to get out, he pushed her and she hit her head on a glass shelf.A customer gave the robber $40 from her purse and he left on foot.The employee suffered a head laceration but refused to be checked at a hospital, Hayes said.Police took positions around the area and a K-9 team searched the area around the bowling alley and a nearby Mexican restaurant, but the robber escaped.There was no detailed description of the gunman, just a thin man in his 40s or 50s and about 5 feet 5 inches tall.John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.
