ANOKA - A Minneapolis man is charged with taking two employees hostage as he robbed a shoe store in the northern Twin Cities.

Thirty-eight-year-old Benjamin Elmer Flanders was charged in Anoka County on Friday with one felony count of first-degree robbery and two felony counts of kidnapping.

According to court documents, Coon Rapids police responded Thursday night to a robbery in progress at a Payless Shoe Store. Officers arrived to find a man with a gun leaving the store. He then fled back into the store.

Officers contacted the man, who agreed to surrender. The two employees told police the suspect threatened them with a gun and used duct tape to tape one employee's hands.

Bail for Flanders is set at $250,000. It's unclear if he has an attorney who could comment.

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