Olympia police are looking for three men who stole an automated teller machine from an area hotel lobby and pointed a gun at an employee.
About 2:45 a.m. Sunday, the three men showed up at the Ramada hotel in the 4500 block of Martin Way East. Two of them entered the business, while the third stood watch at the door, Police Lt. Paul Lower said Tuesday.
The two men walked straight to the ATM and began removing it, he said. A female employee confronted them, but one of them pulled out what appeared to be a handgun and ordered the woman to the floor and took her cell phone.
The men left with the ATM and she called 911, Lower said.
Police later traced and recovered the cell phone on northbound I-5 near Carpenter Road, he said.
Detectives are still investigating the incident, including the gun, which may have been a pellet gun, Lower said. A pellet gun pellet was found on the lobby floor near where the woman was ordered to the ground.
One of the men was described as 5-foot-11 with a tattoo over his right eye. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie and a COVID-19 mask.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Olympia police at 360-753-8300.