Atlanta police are looking for two suspects who pushed a man into a van at gunpoint before taking his card and withdrawing cash from a nearby ATM, authorities said.
The incident, described as a “pedestrian robbery and kidnapping,” was reported last Monday at a home in Atlanta’s Edgewood neighborhood, according to police. Authorities released surveillance footage of one of the suspects withdrawing the cash at an ATM in hopes of the public identifying the man and his partner.
On Oct. 4, a 61-year-old man was working at a home in the 100 block of Whitefoord Avenue and stepped out around 11:30 a.m. to get something from his van, the incident report states.
While outside, two men, one wearing a white T-shirt and red pants and the other wearing a blue T-shirt and black jeans, approached the victim and asked him for a job, the report states. The man told police he turned them down and proceeded to go toward the back of the van for some tools. The two men returned and pushed the victim into the back of the van at gunpoint, the report states. The victim told police that one of the men yelled “Don’t move or I will kill you” and then bound his wrists with a banjo cord and his ankles with a red T-shirt.
The two men jumped into the van and drove to the Kroger parking lot at the Edgewood retail district, where they asked the victim for his bank card and pin number, according to the report. One of the men went to a nearby ATM and withdrew $1,800 while the other man stayed with the victim in the van, the report reveals.
Once the man returned to the van, the victim was told to wait two minutes before getting out, the report states. The victim did as told, then unbound himself and drove back to the Whitefoord Avenue home where police met him around 12:45 p.m., according to the report.
The victim told police that the suspects stole his bank cards, cellphones, power drill, nail gun, chainsaw and circular saw. Camera footage from the home captured the incident but was not released to the public.
A similar robbery was reported in June when a man told officers he was kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to withdraw thousands of dollars after someone crashed into his car in northwest Atlanta. In that case, the victim told officers he got out to inspect the damage when a man with a gun forced him back inside his vehicle and made him drive to several ATMs across the city.
It’s unclear if the two cases could be related.
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