Jason Kandel

Cops Seek Robber in Clown Mask for Caught-on-Camera Attack

The attacker lay in wait for 10 minutes before rushing after his victim in the October 29 robbery, police said

Surveillance video released Thursday shows a man in a clown mask robbing a California college student at knifepoint, and police are hoping it will help lead to an arrest.

The attack happened at around 8 p.m. on Oct. 29 in the parking garage of a Montebello housing complex, police said.

The victim's father said his daughter is a tough girl, but she's so shaken by the attack that he now has to walk her to and from the garage.

The attacker is seen on surveillance video standing just outside the victim's parking garage at the Villas Oak Hills complex. He's either talking or pretending to talk on his cellphone.

For more than 10 minutes, he lies in wait. Then he spots the victim and rushes her with a knife.

"I ran down. I was barefoot. I took off running," said Curtis Frederickson, the victim's father, after his daughter ran upstairs shaking and scared. "I think any one of us here, if someone put a knife to your neck, wouldn't you be leery?"

Threatening to kill her, the robber took her laptop bag, police said. The victim, a college student, tried to get it back.

"As he's leaving the scene, she yells at him and says, 'hey, can I at least have my laptop?' He turns around, comes back to her and tells her again, 'give me your purse now,'" said Sgt. Marc Marty of the Montebello Police Department.

Police say he took her purse, threatening her again with the knife. Cameras capture a clear shot of his clown mask as he runs out.

"She works and pays for everything herself, her car, her laptop and everything," Frederickson said. "It's frustrating."

He sent a message to the man hiding behind the mask.

"Come on back. Come on back," he said. "Come take my money. Come take something from me."

The robber was described as approximately 20 years old with short hair. In addition to the clown mask, he was wearing a Dodgers cap, black sweatshirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information that could help investigators identify the suspect was urged to call Montebello police Detective Paul Antista at (323) 887-1200, extension 249.

Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers by calling (800) 222-TIPS.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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