A DTE Energy worker was robbed at gunpoint early this morning as he was guarding a live wire on Detroit's west side.

The company says the incident happened around 3:30 a.m. on Howell Street near the intersection of Livernois and Joy.

According to the company’s chief security officer, the employee had $2 when they were robbed. They’re offering $1,000 to the person who turns the criminal in.

Michael Lynch, DTE Energy’s Chief Security Officer, told 7 Action News that the person guarding that wire was a desk employee pushed into duty because of the number of outages across the area.

“Moms and dads, sons and daughters that work desk jobs and so forth — these are the workers we deploy to keep the public safe from live wires,” said Lynch.

According to Lynch, the wire could have electrocuted the thief had they touched it. The worker was there to keep people safe, but because of the theft they had to back their crews out of the area delaying the process of restoring energy to the area.

DTE is asking the public to keep an eye out for utility crews.

If you have any information regarding this incident, please call police. Fliers are being handed out to people who live in the area for the $1,000 reward.