AUGUSTA — A woman walking to her car after shopping at Walmart Tuesday night was kidnapped by an armed man, driven to a local bank and forced to withdraw money from her account, city police said.

The robber took the money, drove the woman into the city and fled.

Augusta Police Detective Lt. Keith Brann said police are looking for a white man in his early to mid-20s who is about 5 feet, 10 inches tall. The robber was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and a dark baseball cap that had a white logo on the visor, Brann said.

The victim, a 51-year-old woman, was not injured.

Brann said the fact that the robbery also involved kidnapping makes the case particularly troubling.

“It certainly is scary,” Brann said.

The woman told police she had finished shopping at the Walmart store on Civic Center Drive about 5:20 p.m. As she was walking to her car in the parking lot, a man approached her, showed her he had a weapon and forced her into the front passenger seat of her car, then drove her to a bank.

Brann wouldn’t specify what kind of weapon the robber carried or which bank he drove her to.

The man told the woman to withdraw money from her account using an automated teller machine, Brann said.

With the woman still in the car, the man then drove into the city to an area near 40 Mount Vernon Ave. near Augusta Mill Park and Bond Brook, about two miles south of the Walmart.

He stopped the car, got out and she drove to a nearby business and called police.

The robber fled on foot. Police aren’t saying how much money he got away with.

Brann said the Augusta Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division continues to investigate the robbery and kidnapping. No one had been charged as of Wednesday afternoon.

Brann asked anyone who might have seen the robber or who has information to call Augusta Police at 626-2370.

Craig Crosby–621-5642

ccrosby@centralmaine.com