NATCHEZ — Burglars made off with a safe and thousands of dollars from a county store Sunday night, sheriff’s officials said Monday.

The burglary of the Dollar General in the U.S. 61 North community of Washington happened while the store was closed between 8 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday, Adams County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Ricky Stevens said.

“When Store Manager Lisa Rice came to open the store, she found the front door unlocked,” Stevens said. “She did not go in because she knew she had locked the door (the night before).”

The woman called the sheriff’s office, and when deputies arrived, they found the door’s lock broken, he said.

“They went to the back of the office and found that the safe had been removed — the entire safe,” Stevens said.

The roughly 200-pound safe contained thousands of dollars in cash and checks, Stevens said. He would not give the exact amount because the case was still under investigation, he said.

The thieves ripped the store alarm off the wall and cut telephone lines to the building and the alarm system before breaking into the building, he said.

The burglars probably used a dolly to remove the safe, which had been bolted to the floor, Stevens said.

Investigators recovered some evidence, he said, and the office was looking at a few suspects, but he encouraged anyone who might have seen anything to call the sheriff’s office at 601-442-2752.No arrests have been made, and the case remains under investigation.