ST. LOUIS — An attendant working to park cars in a downtown lot was held at gunpoint Friday evening. It happened as country music fans were gathering for a Morgan Wallen concert. 5 On Your Side was on scene moments after the encounter.
The older gentleman 5 On Your Side he's worked as a parking attendant for years and something like this has never happened to him before.
Downtown St. Louis was buzzing Friday night with music fans out for a little excitement.
"It can be such a fun place to be,” Carley Hartig said.
As music fans were arriving for the big show, a cunning crook was on the prowl. Just before 5:30 p.m., a man believed to be in his 40s drove a silver Ford F-150 up to a parking lot on Broadway and Cerre. He pretended to be a customer willing to pay $40 to park his truck. But when the attendant went to serve him, the thief held him at gunpoint. The handgun is described to be pink and black, according to St. Louis police.
In addition to demanding the cash, the victim said the suspect told him not to call the police.
Police arrived within minutes to take the report.
"People come down looking to have fun, looking for a great event. There's so many great places downtown and things like that happen. It can just be a very scary situation,” Hartig said.
"One of my concerns, or one of our concerns, was crime in downtown St. Louis, as it is in most major areas,” said Billy Roe of Billy’s on Broadway. Still, he recently renovated his restaurant to stay downtown. "In this area, you're going to have crime. You're probably not going to stop it altogether, but … the more people we get living down here and coming down here, the less crime we'll have."
The victim said he routinely makes cash drops so the bad guy didn't get away with as much as he otherwise would've.
About three hours after the crime, police located the pickup truck believed to be involved in the robbery. If you know anything about the case, call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS.