TACOMA, Wash. -- A Tacoma Nordstrom employee was injured when two thieves punched and pushed her down while trying to flee after stealing over $5,000 worth of designer purses.

Surveillance cameras caught the two men as they walked into the store and began grabbing purses before fleeing.

“To actually go forward and assault the clerk, who is just trying to do her job, it escalates from shoplifting up to robbery,” Detective Larry Andren with Tacoma Police said.

Surveillance cameras throughout the mall captured images of the men as they appeared to case an escape route down a deserted hallway into Nordstrom.

Outside cameras caught the thieves’ getaway car parked in the lot.

Before entering the store the men donned plastic masks over their faces.

The thieves were after expensive designer purses and began snatching them as they walked into the department.

SLIDESHOW: Purses Stolen From Nordstrom

Cameras rolled as a sales associate approached the men and was punched and pushed to the ground. She slid into nearby racks.

The two men are described as both being in their early to mid-20s. The man wearing the camouflage jacket may have a mustache and was wearing a visor under his hood. The second man was wearing a white and red jacket that had the number 9 embroidered all over the front and appeared to be clean shaven.

“This may even be some kind of group working the Seattle, Tacoma even Oregon area, we don’t know,” Andren said.

A $1,000 reward is being offered to anyone with information leading to the arrest of the two men involved.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crimestoppers of Tacoma and Pierce County at 253-591-5959.