ATTLEBORO - Two Super Stop & Shop employees, one in a car and one on foot, chased after a robbery suspect who hit their Pleasant Street supermarket Sunday night.

The employee on foot pursued the suspect to Holden Street, where officer William Monterroso picked up the chase and arrested the suspect at gunpoint on Bank and Peck streets. Monterroso brought the suspect back to the supermarket, where employees identified him in the unarmed heist, which happened just before 8 p.m. Detective James Cote said at the scene.

Although police don't encourage people to chase suspects, "without their help, we probably wouldn't have apprehended him," Cote said.

The suspect's name was not available at press time Sunday night.

The suspect allegedly had run into the Route 123 supermarket, entered a checkout line, and "when the clerk turned her head, allegedly pushed her," grabbed cash from her register, and ran out, Cote said. The suspect lost a sneaker as he ran across the parking lot and crossed Route 123, Cote said.

One store employee followed in a car as the other co-worker ran after the suspect. The employee in the car never left the parking lot.

Employees' description of the suspect led police to set up a perimeter nearby, Cote said.

Monterroso then recognized the suspect on Bank and Peck streets, and, uncertain if the man was armed, arrested him at gunpoint. Police recovered the sneaker in the supermarket parking lot.

Super Stop & Shop remained open following the incident.

Attleboro residents Mike and Judi Piccirilli were grocery shopping toward the back of the store when the robbery happened.

"When we got up front, they told us all the registers were closed except one because there had been a robbery," Mike Piccirilli said.

Piccirilli said the incident surprised him a little.

"No one runs in and robs a Stop & Shop and then runs out," he said.

Norton resident Loretta Watson said she was driving up as the chase began. "I was thinking, 'Should I try to run him down?'" Watson said.

Besides Cote and Monterroso, Detective Jeffrey Peavey and officer Dennis Fleming are investigating the incident.