3 WOMEN HUNTED IN RESTAURANT HOLDUP.

Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Sheriff's deputies were searching for three women who held an off-duty police officer and other customers at gunpoint during a holdup at a Shakey's Pizza restaurant Wednesday night.

The officer ran out of the restaurant in the 2100 block of Palmdale Boulevard after the robbery and contacted nearby deputies, who searched the neighborhood, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Charles Tilson.

A cashier at the restaurant said she believed at least two of the three robbers wielded guns.

The cashier said the women had come into the restaurant earlier that day and asked for job applications.

When they returned, one entered through the kitchen while a second stood in the parlor with a gun to hold the customers at bay, the cashier said.

``I couldn't believe it was going on,'' she said.

The cashier said she believed there was a third female robber at the back door. The robber who entered the kitchen quickly approached the manager.

``She went towards where the dishes were and told the manager to open the safe,'' the cashier said.

The manager opened the safe and the robber told her to step back. The robber took money and the bandits ran out the back door, the cashier said.