Police Investigating Daylight Armed Robbery Attempt

Published on January 21, 2021

Palo Alto, CA – Police are investigating an attempted robbery with a handgun that occurred Wednesday afternoon. No one was physically injured, and the suspect is at large.

On Wednesday, January 20, 2021, at about 2:19 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call of an attempted robbery that had occurred about thirty minutes earlier in the 1100 block of Webster Street. The investigation revealed that the victim, a man in his twenties, had been working outside a residence. The suspect approached him on foot, pointed a handgun at him, and demanded his wallet and cell phone. The victim refused, and the suspect then ran to a waiting vehicle driven by another person. The vehicle left southbound on Webster Street.

The victim described the suspect as a Hispanic male adult of unknown age, about 5 feet 7 inches tall. He was wearing a black jacket, black pants, and a black face covering. The suspect fled as a passenger in a red four-door Toyota truck. A witness reported the truck was driven by a Hispanic male adult wearing glasses. It is unknown at this point if the victim will be able to work with a police artist to produce a sketch of the suspect; if that occurs, we will release the sketch as soon as it is available.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.