HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Police are looking for a man who robbed the Dairy Queen at Willow Lawn in Henrico's West End. The robbery happened at about 7 p.m. Wednesday as shoppers filled the outdoor shopping center and surrounding parking lot.
"I always feel very safe here," Michael Larkum, who lives and works near Willow Lawn, said. "It's terrifying. I'd obviously be very upset if I walked in on that."
Security video of the robbery showed a man in a coat walk into the Dairy Queen. Workers said he sparked up a conversation about working there. He then unzipped his coat, said he had a gun, asked for a paper bag and demanded money from the cash registers, they said.
"Wow, that's crazy," Willow Lawn shopper Jessica Mendez said. "You come out here and you shop and you go out out for dinner with your family and you have to worry about stuff like that? It's crazy."
No customers were inside the Dairy Queen at the time of the robbery and no one was hurt.
While the search for the robber continued, shoppers seemed happy to hear Henrico Police planned to up patrols around the shopping center.
"You can't live in fear all the time," Mendez said.
Police described the man as a 5'7" and 160 pound white male. He was last seen wearing a dark jacket and flannel shirt.
Anyone with information about the Dairy Queen robbery is asked to call Henrico Police at 804-501-5000.
