University Police are looking for a man who robbed a parking attendant booth near the Gateway Center on Wednesday evening.
The man escaped with about $200 after telling the attendant at Lot C28 that he had a gun and would shoot her if she “did anything stupid.”
The robber was a 30- to 40-year-old black man of medium build and a white beard, witnesses said. He wore black pants and a white shirt.
Police said the man had no other distinguishing characteristics, making solving the crime difficult.
“The key is to pick the person up at or near the scene,” University Police Sgt. Erik Swanson said. “In this case, we couldn’t do that.”
Suzan Pawirodihardjo, a junior majoring in interior design, said she was working alone in the booth when the man, who she said was about 5 feet 7 inches, approached on foot at about 5:40 p.m.
The man asked Pawirodihardjo for directions and when she turned to get a pen, the man told her he had a gun and would shoot her if she moved. She said the man took all the money in the booth — about $200 — and then ran away.
“It went really fast,” Pawirodihardjo said.
By the time University Police arrived shortly after 6 p.m., the man was gone, police said.
Pawirodihardjo was unharmed, but said she was a bit shaken up Wednesday night after the incident. She will continue to work at the booth, she said.
A few other attendant booths have been robbed in the past year, police said.
Lot C28, which has about 343 parking spaces, has had as much as $800 in the attendant’s booth, one parking and transportation employee said.
A minimum of $80 is kept in each booth for change, another employee said.