Sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning, someone broke into McDonald’s Book Exchange in downtown Redmond and stole all the cash the store had on hand at the time.

Owner Anne St. Germain said the store had had a “decent day” on Monday and nearly $400 was taken but nothing else. She said she had to wonder if the individual knew the store’s sales from the day before because cash is stored in two different places — one obvious location and one not so obvious — and money was taken from both locations.

St. Germain added that the individual who broke in did not use the store’s two main entrances.

“They chose to break in the emergency doors,” she said.

Officer Michael Dowd of the Redmond Police Department (RPD) said the individual, or individuals, pried the store’s rear door and went straight for the cash. He said there were a few break-ins at downtown businesses throughout the summer, but Tuesday’s incident does not appear to be related. In previous cases, Dowd said, the people went for the businesses’s safes.

“This was just convenient cash that happened to be on hand,” he said about Tuesday’s incident. “It does look pretty random.”

St. Germain did not open the store Tuesday morning and said it was an employee who arrived about 15 minutes before opening and let her know about the break-in. McDonald’s is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

She said she doesn’t know who could have done this and nothing like this has happened to them in the past.

McDonald’s recently moved from its location on the corner of Northeast 83rd Street and 164th Avenue Northeast to 16210 N.E. 80th St. in downtown. The store is now housed in the former OneRedmond — previously the Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce — building, which had also been the location of the city’s first library.

This is a breaking story and the Reporter will update it as more information becomes available.