Employees at an auto shop in Charlottesville, Virginia are still reeling after being greeted by an unusual furry guest on Monday afternoon.
A black bear made a dash for it inside the shop on Monday, June 19, surprising everyone inside.
Employees at Meineke Car Care Center say it was just another Monday at work until about 2 p.m., when they say one of the employees looked up and saw a young bear running across Route 29 right into the shop.
"It was really kind of small,” says Shawn Jenkins, who works at the shop. “It probably weighed 100 pounds."
But the small unwelcome visitor still caused a stir among employees.
"Another employee yelled 'bear,'” says Jenkins. “I turned around and there was a bear. I ran like, you know, typical humans do."
On the auto shop's security camera, you can see a young black bear hop onto a customer’s car and dash into the auto shop. Moments later, you can see it run away in the lower right-hand corner.
"It's just something, you know, a story you don't hear every day,” says Jenkins.
Jenkins says he watched the bear run and collide with a car near the intersection of Rt. 29 and Hydraulic Road. He says the animal didn’t look hurt and kept going.
"I'm guessing he was confused ’cause traffic around here gets pretty bad,” says Richard Warburton, who works at the shop.
Warburton says the encounter in the shop lasted about 20 seconds.
"When Shawn yelled, he got confused and just slid, fell over, got back up, and ran out the other bay door," says Warburton.
Employees have not stopped talking about the close encounter since it occurred.
"We're kind of laughing thinking, 'jeez, you know, how would we explain this to my insurance company had he hurt somebody or damaged some vehicle or something," says Warburton.
He says he is glad no one was hurt and that employees have a fun new story to share with customers.
"Customers have come in saying, 'hey, I heard you had a bear sighting here and I've showed several people the video,’ - which they think it's funny," says Warburton.
The bear was reported to the Charlottesville Police Department.
Officers told the shop that this particular bear is young and several sightings have been reported over the past week near Route 29 and Hydraulic Road.
This story, by Emmy Freedman, first appeared on nbc29.com
You can watch the video here.
