Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Police have released surveillance video of a man who they say robbed two real estate agents at gunpoint in Florida last week. Police are asking for others' help in identifying the man, who they fear will strike again.
The surveillance video was recorded at a Walmart store and shows the man wearing a white shirt and slacks.
Last week, two real estate agents in St. Petersburg, in separate incidents, told police that they were showing a home to a man when he pulled out a gun and demanded money. The incidents occurred about one hour from one another.
The first victim told reporters that the man had scheduled an appointment with her to see a home at 1 p.m. last Wednesday. She prequalified the man over the phone instead of first meeting at her office – a mistake she now warns other agents not to make.
The female agent told reporters that she was showing the home to a man when she hears him say "sorry about this." She turns to look at him and he holds a gun between her eyes.
"That was the first moment that I realized my life was in danger," the woman told WTSP-10 News, who is keeping her identity secret since the man has not yet been caught. "At no time did I ever feel that man was a threat to me, until I was looking down the barrel of his gun. He hands me a pair of handcuffs to put on. At this point, he's putting the gloves on, that's when the real fear of dread came."
The man then ordered the woman to call her husband and to get $50,000 by 5:00 p.m. Her husband told him that he couldn't get that money.
The man fled shortly after and the real estate agent was able to flee to a neighbor’s house to ask for help.
About an hour later, and just a few miles away, police say the man pulled a gun on another real estate agent. But the man fled again when another real estate agent entered the home.
Police are warning other agents that the man may strike again.
"There was a level of planning that went into these crimes, and that’s what makes us fear he will strike again," St. Petersburg Assistant Police Chief Jim Previtara said.
