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Robber sought 

Berkeley police have issued an alert calling for the public’s help in apprehending a robber who has been targeting women in the southeast and northern sections of the city. 

Though none of his victims have actually seen a pistol, the bandit professes to be packing heat in a pocket. He targets people who have just made cash withdrawals from automatic teller machines. 

Acting Berkeley Police Public Information Officer Shira Warren described the suspect as an African American male with a large build who stands between 6’2” and 6’5” and often wears a black hooded sweatshirt and a matching baseball cap, sometimes worn with the bill backwards. 

The same individual is suspected to be the culprit of similar robberies in the Rockridge area of Oakland. 

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Berkeley police robbery division at 981-5742. 

Reward offered 

The City of Berkeley has issued a $5,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of Berkeley resident Wallace M. Richards III, who has been missing since the morning Nov. 12, when he was last seen dropping off some friends at their jobs in San Francisco. 

His car, a gold Mercedes C-240 was later recovered near San Lorenzo. 

Richards, 23, is 6’2” tall, weighs 235 pounds, and was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and a lightweight green and gray jacket, Officer Warren reports. 

Anyone with information is asked to call Berkeley police at 981-5741. 

Bus stop robbery 

UC Police have issued an alert about a strong-arm bandit who assaulted a man at a bus stop in the 2200 block of Piedmont Avenue about 10:20 p.m. Tuesday and demanded he surrender his laptop computer. 

When the young man resisted, a struggle ensued in which the victim received minor injuries but successfully managed to keep hold of the computer. 

The suspect then fled in a red SUV with a second man. 

Brandisher bust 

UC Berkeley police arrested a 25-year-old man shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday after hearing a Berkeley P.D. broadcast about a suspect who had been brandishing a knife in the 2100 block of Bancroft Way. 

Though the fellow had fled the scene before BPD arrived, university officers were able to locate him minutes later.i