An unidentified attacker allegedly robbed a female mall employee at gunpoint in the parking lot of Fashion Square Mall at 10 p.m. Monday.
According to Albemarle County Police, the 24-year-old victim described her assailant as a 5'9" black male weighing about 130 lbs., wearing a white hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and white sneakers and had a blue bandana masking half his face.
According to the police report, the attacker approached the woman as she walked to her vehicle, and he thrust a silver handgun into her back.
The woman was not injured, but the assailant escaped with her purse, which contained a small, undisclosed amount of money, according to police.
The victim was leaving work at "B. Moss," a store in the mall, Fashion Square Manager Tara Beiber said.
Monday night's robbery marks the mall's first major security problem in at least two years, said Beiber, who has run the mall's daily operations during that time.
The mall contracts IPC International, a company headquartered in Chicago, as the agency that heads its security, she said.
The guards employed by this agency patrol the grounds of the mall 24 hours a day, she added.
The grounds are well lit by many parking lot lamps, and loiterers do not frequent the mall, Beiber said.
This event is one of several armed robberies reported in recent months in the Charlottesville-Albemarle County area.
A student was robbed at gunpoint behind the Architecture School on Culbreth Road last April. The attacker stole the student's money, marking the first armed robbery on Grounds in years.
Another University student was robbed at gunpoint outside Courtenay Dorm in September. Other recent armed robberies include a robbery and shooting at Arby's located on Route 29 Oct. 27 and a holdup at the Lucky 7 store on the Corner over Winter Break.
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