A Lyons man may have escaped police if he had not take the time to scratch off lottery tickets during an armed robbery of a Lyons convenience store Friday.

Police were called at 8:15 a.m. to Nancy’s Gas and Food Mart, 8050 W. Ogden Ave., after a clerk reported that a man had threatened her with a knife and demanded money before she locked herself in an office and dialed 911.

The clerk said she saw the man, later identified as Steve Malinowski, 25, jump over the counter, take cigarettes and scratch off lottery tickets before fleeing on foot across Ogden Avenue and through the Washington School baseball field.

Police saw Malinowski running near the intersection of 42nd Street and Leland Avenue, where he was apprehended.

A knife used in the robbery was found in the school parking lot and items stolen from the store were found in a yard in the 8000 block of 42nd Place, police said.

Malinowski, formerly of Berwyn, was charged with one count of armed robbery and appeared at a bond hearing Oct. 25  at the 5th District Bridgeview Court.