Employee said he was confronted while taking out trash

From KTVZ.COM news sources

Authorities are looking for a ski-masked gunman who allegedly held up a La Pine gas station employee as he took out the trash to a parking-lot Dumpster, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies responded about 7:34 p.m. to the reported armed robbery at the La Pine Shell station at 16515 Reed Road, said Sgt. Mike Biondi.

Deputies arrived within minutes, and with the help of a sheriff’s K-9 unit quickly began an extensive search of the area for the suspect, Biondi said, but did not find him.

The victim reported he was emptying garbage into a Dumpster at the southwest corner of the parking lot when he heard a noise from behind the enclosure, the sergeant said.

As he rounded the corner of the enclosure, he was confronted by the suspect, who shoved him to the ground, brandished a pistol and demanded his wallet.

The victim said he gave the man his wallet, and the gunman fled in a southwesterly direction, toward Highway 97.

“There is no information that the suspect was aided by another person, or if he used a vehicle to flee the scene,” Biondi and Deputy Pete Penzenik said in a news release early Friday.

“He is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached,” the officers added.

The suspect was described as a white male adult, possibly in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds.

He last was seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, stocking cap and dark pants, along with a black ski mask pulled over his face, and was armed with a revolver-type handgun, authorities said.

The sheriff’s office asked anyone with information that could help in the case to contact the sheriff’s office detectives division at (541) 388-6655.