Indianapolis—
It was during the Pokemon convention. It wasn't a gaming exhibitor or a participant, but an employee who came face to face with a masked man with a gun Thursday afternoon. The man was wearing a ski mask according to the victim, when he robbed her at gunpoint.
"It's an isolated incident, to the best of my knowledge, nothing like this has ever happened before," said Dan Huge with the Indiana Convention Center.
The woman, a 48-year-old office manager, had walked to the women's room near her office, a public restroom often used by staff at the extreme east end of the convention center. She had brought her purse with her.
"Followed in by the suspect, was asked for money, she gave up her money and credit card and then the assailant tried to leave," said Huge.
But he ran into a co-worker returning from an errand who'd heard her screams. When he walked up, he too found a gun pointed at his face. In the end, neither was hurt, but the suspect got away through the parking garage.
There are security cameras all over the convention center. Some that may have captured an image of the suspect before or after the attack. Unfortunately, the camera right outside these restrooms wasn't operational at the time.
Convention center security is in the process of transferring any pictures of the suspect to Metro Police, but so far, there are none to show. Days later, both employees are back on the job, and it's only now that others are learning about the attack.
While convention center staff is making counseling available to staff, it's also assessing its own security measures.
The suspect is described as an African-American male with a small build (about 5'4"), he weighs about 130 to 140 lbs. At the time of the armed robbery, he was wearing a black ski mask.
