It was a very scary day at work Friday for several employees at the Greenville BB&T bank as a man walked in with a semi-automatic gun, locked the employees in the bathroom and robbed the bank.

Surveillance photos of the man show him waving a gun at employees shortly after 11:20 Friday morning.

Deputies say the man got away on foot. Augusta County Sheriff Randy Fisher says the man left with several thousand dollars from the bank.

"They're doing well. I mean, they're shaken," says Fisher about the employees at the bank. "Obviously, somebody comes at you with a gun, it appears to be a semi-auto[matic], comes at you with a handgun and orders you in a bathroom, you're in fear for your life."

Sheriff's deputies say employees spent about two minutes locked in a bathroom before one of them called 911.

Investigators blocked off the area surrounding the bank as they tried to find the robber. A canine unit from Harrisonburg came to Greenville to help with the search.

Fisher says the man ran up a hill behind the bank after the alleged robbery. He says the man left a few footprints along the way, but dogs lost the track at a road on the other side of the hill.

They say it's been a while since they investigated a bank robbery in the area, but they say we could see more crimes like this as economic conditions worsen.

"Of course the economy is in bad condition. People are losing their jobs. People are becoming desperate. And, I think it's certainly something that we're looking in to. And, we could certainly see a spike in crime as a result of the economy," says Cpl. M.C. Roane.

If you have any information that can help with this investigation, the sheriff's office wants to hear from you.

The suspect is described as a white man, between 20 and 30 years old. He's five-foo-ten-inches to six feet tall. He was wearing a dark mask, a red cap, a gray hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

If you have any information, you're asked to call the Augusta County Sheriff's Office at 540-245-5333 or Central Shenandoah Crime Stoppers at 800-322-2017.