Cape Coral police believe that they have identified the make and model of a getaway vehicle used in an armored truck robbery Sunday evening.
At about 4:32 p.m., a man robbed a Brinks transport truck by using a Taser on the Brinks employee after the worker had exited the Publix on Cape Coral Parkway. The employee dropped the money bags, and the man fled with one.
Police initially reported that they believed that a SUV had been waiting for the robber on the north side of the Publix, where he was last seen running.
The getaway vehicle is now believed to have been a Cadillac Escalade.
“We don’t believe it had a tag on it,” Lt. Tony Sizemore, spokesman for the Cape police, said Tuesday.
The robber is described as a white male. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a gray shirt and black shorts, with a baseball cap and sunglasses.
“We’re still looking for the guy,” Sizemore said.
Brinks was picking up money at the Publix at 127 Cape Coral Parkway W. when the robbery occurred. As the Brinks employee exited the store and walked toward the truck, the robber approached from behind and used a Taser on the employee’s neck.
The employee dropped the coin and cash bags and was temporary stunned. The robber grabbed the canvas Brinks bag containing an undisclosed amount of cash and checks and ran from the scene. The employee is reportedly OK.
“He’s fine,” Sizemore said. “He doesn’t seem to be injured at all.”
Publix provided police with video surveillance from outside of the store. Sizemore urged citizens to view the video online at the police department’s website, capecops.com, because it portrays the man better than photos.
“You can see someone’s mannerisms and the way they move,” he said. “It may jog someone’s memory as to who this person might be.”
Anyone with information on the robbery or the whereabouts of those involved can contact the Cape Coral Police Department at 574-3223 or submit a tip anonymously online using the police department’s website.
“No information is too small,” Sizemore said.
This was the city’s first reported armored truck robbery.
“We’ve had bank robberies here, but not armored car robberies,” he said, adding that there have been a few though in the Southwest Florida area.
Shannon Patten, spokeswoman for Publix, said the company is working closely with law enforcement to aid in the capture of the robber.
“This is a very rare occurrence for us,” she said. “This is something that has not happened regularly or routinely.”
Because the incident occurred outside of the store and none of the Publix associates were involved, the company intends to maintain the procedures that it has in place and plans to carry out processes as it normally would.
“We, of course, have procedures in place that Brinks has established, and we have our own procedures and policies above and beyond that,” Patten said.
She was unaware of whether Brinks plans to revisit its procedures.
A message left for Brinks seeking comment was not returned Tuesday.