Cops: Brick-wielding robber sought in garage attacks

ATLANTA — Police are looking for an alleged brick-wielding robber who authorities said is linked to at least five parking garage attacks.

The attacks all happened in a parking garage at the Duo Condominiums on Chapel Street and Northside Drive in southwest Atlanta. Police said the robberies, in which the man is stealing women's purses and cellphones, started last March. The most recent robbery was on Christmas Eve.

Atlanta police showed Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri surveillance video from October, when a man rushed out and attacked a woman walking in her garage. He appeared to hit her and throw her to the ground before taking her purse and running off.

"It's horrifying. I think a stranger stepping out of the shadows, which is what happened. I think that's kind of everybody's nightmare," Allison Parker said.

Parker said it's a nightmare she experienced last March. She's the first of five women Atlanta police believe the man targeted in the parking deck at her condo building on Chapel Street.

"(I) Looked over my shoulder and saw this guy literally stepping out of the shadows with his arm cocked back and a brick in his hand," she said.

Parker said she quickly ducked the brick, threw her purse and phone and ran inside.

Viteri showed her video from an August attack on another neighbor. Police said the man used a brick in this case, too. Video showed him hit the woman several times. He appeared to kick her as she fought unsuccessfully to hold on to her purse, and then chased after him.

"I know that she had some lacerations under her eye; a big knot on her head," Atlanta police Lt. Jeff Cantin said.

Police said the man they are looking for is small, between 5 feet and 5 feet 4 inches tall. The video showed him waiting in a hallway off the garage and watching for someone to pull in. Cantin said investigators want to find the man before he does this or worse again.

"We're worried now that it could be escalating. We did have a case where on Peter Street somebody similar to this description did use a gun in this last incident," Cantin said.

"I think for a lot of us we don't feel safe. We feel like we're sitting ducks and we're waiting for it to happen again," added Parker.

Police said they have increased patrols in the area to try to keep residents safe. They've also handed out a suspect description to officers who work this area to be on the lookout for this man.

WSBTV