Bank Customer Allegedly Robbed At Coddingtown Mall By Armed Suspect: Police

SONOMA COUNTY, CA -- Police in Santa Rosa said Thursday that a man was robbed at gunpoint outside a Bank of the West branch at Coddingtown Mall, and the alleged robber remains at large.

The victim told responding officers that sometime before 12:30 p.m., he was walking across the parking lot toward the bank branch with a deposit bag in hand when he was approached by a man who asked him for a cigarette, then attempted to take the deposit bag, Santa Rosa police said in a statement.

The victim told police he pulled the bag out of the suspect's grip and told the man he could not have his bag, police said. At that time, the suspect allegedly pulled out a black semi-automatic handgun and pointed it at the victim. The victim complied with the suspect's request for his money bag and handed over the bag, police said.

The suspect -- described by the victim as an approximately about 30-year-old black man of average build, wearing jeans and a dark hoodie sweatshirt -- then fled the scene toward the library and the west end of the mall, police said.

Officers were dispatched around 12:30 p.m. to a Valero gas station on Guerneville Road, where they met with the victim and took a report.

Santa Rosa police say they searched the area but did find not the suspect, which police attributed to a delay in the victim's 911 call to SRPD.

Anyone with information about the alleged incident should call the police department at 707-528-5222.

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