2 men rob popular restaurant attached to Northlake Mall

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two men robbed an employee at a popular restaurant attached to Northlake Mall on Sunday night.

Bravo was back open for business Monday afternoon when Eyewitness News caught up with mall employee Andrew Fals.  He nearly did a double-take when we told him about a robbery at Bravo, just a few doors away from his own job at Northlake Mall.

“You just -- now, you don't really know what to expect,” Fals said.

Police said it happened at about 9:15 p.m. Sunday, after the mall had closed.

Mall managers said two men walked into Bravo, saying they had guns.  They knocked on the door to the office, tied up the woman who opened it, took money and left.

For Northlake Mall, it's a rare violent crime.

Last February, a man was shot in the mall's parking lot, but police said that was a dispute between two men.  Since then, Eyewitness News found just one other armed robbery reported.

Nonetheless, shopper Karsia Vang said she will now reconsider her own safety in the area.

“I just wouldn’t think something like that would happen at a restaurant like that,” she said.

Management at Northlake emphasized that the mall was closed and shoppers were gone when Sunday night's robbery took place.

But Bravo employees were put in danger.

Fals said he has no choice but to go back to his mall job, but admits he's shaken by the robbery.

“The show has to go on,” he said. “But it’s going to be in the back of my head now.”

Police investigators said there is no surveillance video of the two men who are suspects in the case, but they have already met with Bravo's management about their own security.

They said they have leads and aren’t ruling out any possibilities as their investigation continues.

WSOC