Topeka ? A Topeka liquor store employee is dead after being attacked with what appeared to be a blunt object on Christmas Eve.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports several people were inside Hudson Liquor when the clerk was killed. Officers were called to the store at 1:43 and found the victim dead behind the counter.

Police Capt. Jerry Stanley says investigators believe the attacker was intoxicated and may live in the neighborhood in which he ran away from the liquore store.

The killer is described as a slender white man in his 20s who is about 6 feet tall. He was wearing a blue stocking cap and pajama or cargo pants, which witnesses say he had to stop at least once to pull up.

Stanley says robbery appears to be the motive.