KITTANNING — A Ford Cliff woman armed with two guns was wrestled to the ground by store employees and eventually arrested after she tried to rob drugs from the Rite Aid Pharmacy along Market Street on Monday morning, police said.

According to a police criminal complaint, 47-year-old Christine Marie Boylstein of 717 Orr Ave. fired a 9 mm Kel-Tec semi-automatic pistol in an attempt to rob the pharmacy of opiates. She was also carrying a loaded Taurus 38 caliber revolver, police said.

Boylstein had drawn a mustache on her face in an attempt to look like a man, police said, and was wearing sunglasses and a ski mask. There were no reported injuries.

About 9:05 a.m., according to the affidavit, Boylstein entered the store and approached Constance Renee Liu, who was working at the front register.

Liu told the Leader Times that she was working at the front of the store when she saw a woman in dark clothing.

"She grabbed me and put a gun to my side," said Liu. The woman told her not to push any buttons to alert police, said Liu.

"She had a note and told everyone to get on the floor or she would shoot," said Liu.

According to the affidavit, Boylstein allegedly walked Liu to the back registers — with the gun pressed against Liu's side — to where the pharmacist, Beth Paul, was working. Boylstein handed Paul an unpunctuated note that read: "Touch alarm + die fill bag with all opiates you have 30 sec, or i will shoot you + everyone else."

In the affidavit, Paul described the gun as silver.

Liu, Mary Pauline Rice, Sally Ann Mitchell and store patron Carmela Dawn Boyer were ordered by Boylstein to lay on the floor, police said. Paul retrieved several bottles of Percocet, but Boylstein allegedly told her she wanted opiates. Boylstein was waving the silver gun in the air telling Paul what types of opiates she wanted, the affidavit said. Paul placed about $3,000 worth of fentanyl and morphine in a cardboard box. That's when, according to the affidavit, Paul noticed a man standing in the aisle behind Boylstein. Paul tried to get his attention without letting Boylstein see, mouthing the word "help."

But Boylstein did see her, according to the affidavit, and she turned to look in the direction where the man was standing.

While Boylstein was distracted, the criminal complaint said, Paul grabbed her by the arm and the two women struggled. Boylstein dropped the gun ( the Taurus 38 caliber revolver) and pulled a pistol (the 9 mm Kel-Tec semi-automatic) from her pocket. As Paul and Boyer struggled with the suspect, Boylstein fired the pistol and struck a display shelf. Paul, Boyer and Liu wrestled Boylstein to the ground, police said.

When Kittanning police Chief Ed Cassesse arrived, he disarmed Boylstein and placed her under arrest.

According to the affidavit, the revolver contained three live rounds in the chamber and the 9 mm pistol had eight live rounds in the clip and one spent round in the chamber.

Boylstein was arrested on charges of robbery, terroristic threats, theft, unlawful restraint, simple assault and reckless endangerment. She was remanded to the Armstrong County Jail by Kittanning District Judge James Owen. Bail was set at $75,000.

Armstrong County sheriffs and state police assisted borough police during the investigation. The investigation was later turned over to state police. Kittanning Hose Co. 6 ambulance also responded to the scene.

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