Salt Lake City police are looking for a knife-wielding thief who threatened a Gateway mall store employee before fleeing on foot.

Police said the thief had been seen by the cologne counter of the unidentified store at about at about 3:50 p.m. Monday. As the man exited the business, located near 18 S. Rio Grande St., the theft alarm sounded.

When a store employee approached the man, he brandished a knife, then ran westbound on 100 South.

The suspect was described as a black man, about 140 pounds, wearing tan cargo pants and a red shirt with an oval-shaped tattoo on his right forearm.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call police at 801-799-3000.

remims@sltrib.com