Pawn Shop Employee Brutally Stabbed

A pawn shop owner is in intensive care following a brutal knife attack over the weekend. Detectives say robbers ambushed the victim on Saturday moing just moments after he opened the Marietta pawn shop for business.

Detectives say it happened at the Hock Shop, located on Cobb Parkway North. They say the 57-year-old pawn shop employee was stabbed multiple times. His name has not been released, but police did release his photo.

The say a man wearing a woman's long-hair wig posed as a customer. He then attacked the employee, who is in his late 50's, when he opened the front door.

Marietta police are calling it a very serious and nasty assault. The say the employee saved his own life by dialing 911 as he lay bleeding on the floor inside the store.

"And he basically was ambushed. He and the suspect fought for quite a bit and during the struggle, the employee was stabbed multiple times with actually some very life-threatening injuries," said Officer Dave Baldwin of the Marietta Police Department.

Police say they are not sure if anything was taken from the pawn shop. They say they are trying to retrieve surveillance video from nearby businesses to see if the video will reveal anything about the attack.

Police say what bothers them the most is the violent nature of the attack. They say the suspect has no regard for life, and they want to get him off the streets as soon as possible.

The suspect is described as a black male who is 5'6" tall and weighs between 130 - 150 pounds. He was last seen wearing a wig, a knit cap, jeans and a dark sweat shirt.

The owners of the Hock Shop say they’ve been open for 19 years. They say this is the first time they’ve been robbed.

Police say anyone with information on the crime should call the Marietta Police Department at (770) 794-5300.