A man who allegedly shoplifted scads of tents from a Mission District sporting goods store is on the loose today, after escaping the grasp of the staffer who attempted to stop him.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, it was 4:15 Tuesday afternoon when a man in his 30s entered a camping supply store on the 3300 block of 18th Street, which is between South Van Ness and Mission Streets.

(The Alite Outpost "Flagship Store," which describes itself as "the place for casual campers" on its website, is located at 3376 18th Street. A call to confirm that the store was the location of the incident was not returned at publication time.)

The man, police say, "concealed eight tents in a backpack." When a 23-year-old female staffer at the store tried to confront him over the theft, he "tried to use [a] Taser" on her, then fled on a bicycle, tents in tow.

The camping store staffer wasn't injured in the altercation, police say, but the suspect remains at large — and now, one might assume, under rip-stop, waterproof cover.