Woman robbed at gunpoint after cashing check near 8th and Mitchell

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee police are hoping to stop a predator before he strikes again. 

Police confirm their investigation continues after a woman was held up at gunpoint as she walked home from a check cashing business.

Twenty-four hours after an armed robbery on a busy street, Milwaukee police return, talking to people and looking for videos that could lead them to the man who boldly robbed a woman in the middle of the day. 

"It happened right here," said Roxanne Novak. 

Still visibly shaken, Novak tells us the man put a gun to her head and told her he would kill her. 

"It was terrifying, she said. "And I didn't see no one behind me, he came out of nowhere."

Novak had just cashed a check at 8th and National and was walking home when she was attacked three blocks away.

"It was my SSI check. I needed that for my kids and pay my rent and put food in the house."

She's out $750 and hoping to recover the money with a gofundme page, but more importantly, what she lost was her sense of security.

The attack in the middle of the day has shocked the community.

"It's definitely scary because me and my mom, we shop a lot and we bank a lot," said one neighbor. "And that's very scary, you know, to happen in the daytime like that when there's so much people and so much traffic going on."

Good situational awareness could be a good deterrent, so would-be robbers may not pick you as a victim. 

"When you have your head on a swivel, when you're looking around, you're doing your own assessment -- does everything look alright?" said Homeland Security Advisor Brian Dorow.

"Certainly move in a different direction, maybe walk back into the store or call law enforcement, call the police if it elevates to that level."

Novak says the gunman was tall -- about 6', with facial hair and a gray hoodie that said "Rest in Peace" with a name on it.