NEW ORLEANS - Police are searching for an armed robber targeting residents on Esplanade Avenue.
NOPD says the robber has struck several times on Esplanade and the area around Hare Krishna Temple has been hit two or three times. The victims say the robber only wanted one thing.
"He comes up and points at me with his gun and says 'OK, give me all your money,'" Sukanta Modak said.
Others told a similar story. "He came into the backyard, said 'give me your money, give me your money,'" Heri Enyan said. "He kept on saying 'give me money, money, money, money,'" Abhijit Sen said.
The crimes have been ongoing since August and most happen in broad daylight in front of multiple witnesses. At times the robber has been friendly, apologizing to the people he's robbing or asking for help finding a job.
"He comes up and give me a fist bump," Modak said. "It was stupid to me, he gave me a fist bump."
Other times though he got more agitated. Abhijit Sen was walking up the front steps of his house not far from Esplanade when someone walked up behind him and pulled a gun.
"It was right on my chest, only a very short distance away from me and he tells me 'give me the money, give me the money,'" Sen said.
When the robber learned Sen didn't have any cash on him, he got angry.
"He pulled the trigger 3 or 4 times," Sen said.
The gun never fired, but victims still say it's a terrifying ordeal.
"If he comes up and put his gun on you, you're gonna get scared," Modak said. "I was scared, I was nervous, I didn't know what to do."
These men say they used to feel safe in the Esplanade neighborhood. But as long as the robber is on the streets, they'll continue to feel uneasy.
The victims describe the robber as an African-American man, who is thin and short about 5 foot 6. NOPD say they're heavily deployed in the area and are continuing to follow leads.