A janitor at Dillons, 1000 W. 23rd St., used a mop to strike a suspect trying to steal a cash drawer early Wednesday and interrupted a theft from the grocery store, police said.

Kim Murphree, a Lawrence police spokeswoman, said a woman working in a check-out lane saw two men, dressed in all black, run behind another counter while one suspect removed an inner cash drawer from a register.

The suspect was trying to leave the store but dropped the cash drawer when the janitor hit him with a mop. The suspects then fled on foot, Murphree said. Police are still investigating the case.