Valdosta Mall employee beaten & robbed

VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) - Valdosta Police hope someone can help them find two men who viciously attacked a worker at the Valdosta Mall.

The young man was beaten and robbed as he left work after the mall closed last night.

After 9 p.m. last night 20-year-old Ahmad Waqas was closing up at Dairy Queen. As he left work, two men beat him with an unknown object and demand money.

"You've got to watch your back around the holidays, it's sad to know someone's trying to leave work and this happens to them," said former Valdosta Mall employee, Jennifer McLeod.

Police say the man's father found him on the ground injured in the mall parking lot. He was transported to South Georgia Medical Center where he was treated and released. McLeod says at night, employees need to be on alert.

"Always use the buddy system, and be aware of your surroundings. I keep my keys between my fingers and if you have pepper spray keep that too ready to spray," said McLeod.

Valdosta Police keep the department's Mobile Command Unit in the Mall parking lot during the holidays to prevent crimes. But the surveillance system known as the eye in the sky didn't catch this crime.

"We don't believe that it captured this, our detectives have already been over there to the command post and they've been reviewing anything and everything that they have over there," said Capt. Bobbi McGraw, VPD.

A family member of Waqas' says he and his family are very shaken up and he doesn't know when he will return to work. For now Valdosta Police are working to find more surveillance footage that may have picked up the attack.

The thieves got away with $100.

If you have any information on this robbery, Valdosta Police ask you to call them at 229-242-2606.

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