MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Police are searching for a gunman who robbed a sightseeing tour agency employee in Miami Beach.
The armed robbery was reported shortly before 2 p.m. Sept. 7 at Finest Vacations Inc. at 6638 Collins Ave.
"I'm scared and I am shocked. It changed my life, this situation," the company's owner, Patricia Chiara, said.
Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said the robber, who was wearing sunglasses and had a shirt covering his face, demanded cash from the woman, who was at the front of the business, and then fled with $2,023 in cash.
MBPD detectives are looking for info on an armed commercial robbery that occurred at 6638 Collins Avenue. Subjects in a 2018/19 White GMC Acadia stole a tag and then robbed a woman at gunpoint. If you have info please call Crime Stoppers at https://t.co/rYWIrW8nIR. pic.twitter.com/goAgmmMnrA
— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) September 19, 2018
"I tried to put the money back and he pulled the gun on me," Chiara said.
Chiara told Local 10 News reporter Todd Tongen that she was inside the business with her daughter when the robbery occurred.
"When he saw my daughter coming and screaming, the guy went running," she said.
Rodriguez said the man got into a white 2018/2019 GMC Acadia that was waiting in a nearby alleyway.
"They actually cased the location," he said. "We actually see in surveillance video that before committing the robbery, before parking in the alley, they actually slowly drive in front of the business."
Detectives believe the gunman and his accomplice/accomplices stole a temporary tag prior to the robbery and placed it over the vehicle's tag.
Since the robbery, Chiara has installed a buzz-in lock, covered a window looking into the alley and upgraded her surveillance cameras, because she never wants to have that helpless feeling again.
"Really, I am feeling in this moment my life is finished," she said.
Anyone with information about the armed robbery is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.