Two Women Robbed at Stanford Shopping Center

<p>Palo Alto Police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred last week at the Stanford Shopping Center&comma; where the suspect took purses from two women dining together&period;  There were no physical injuries and the suspect remains at large&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Tuesday&comma; January 18&comma; 2022&comma; at about 2&colon;47 p&period;m&period;&comma; police dispatch received a call reporting an armed robbery that had just occurred at the Stanford Shopping Center at 180 El Camino Real&period;  An initial report indicated that the suspect had fired a shot into the air before fleeing the scene&period;  Officers responded immediately&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The investigation revealed that the victims&comma; a woman in her seventies and another in her eighties&comma; were having lunch together outside at True Food Kitchen&period;  The suspect approached them&comma; displayed a black handgun&comma; and demanded their purses&period;  The victims complied&comma; and the suspect took both purses&period;  The victims reported hearing a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;pop” or &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;click” noise come from the gun&period;  As other witnesses reported seeing an orange color on the gun &lpar;including possibly at its tip&rpar;&comma; police believe it is possible the weapon was a replica handgun&period;  Police did not locate any projectile or damage from a projectile at the scene&period;  Neither victim sustained physical injuries&period;  The suspect was last seen on a bicycle riding northbound towards Sand Hill Road&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Witnesses described the suspect as a Polynesian male in his late teens or early twenties with short curly hair&comma; about six feet tall with average build&period;  He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with red lettering&comma; black pants&comma; red shoes&comma; and a face covering&period;  He was riding a blue bicycle&period;  At this time&comma; police do not believe a sketch will be forthcoming&period;  A surveillance image of the suspect is seen above&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at <a href&equals;"tel&colon;6503292413">&lpar;650&rpar; 329-2413<&sol;a>&period;  Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to <a href&equals;"mailto&colon;paloalto&commat;tipnow&period;org">paloalto&commat;tipnow&period;org<&sol;a> or sent via text message or voice mail to <a href&equals;"tel&colon;6503838984">&lpar;650&rpar; 383-8984<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;