A man has described his terror when a masked gunman pointed a metre-long weapon at him and demanded he hand over money from a bowling alley till.

The armed heist happened just before 6pm yesterday at a bowling alley and pokie room in Auckland’s Wairau Park shopping complex.

An employee of the Wairau Park Tenpin Bowling said he was one of three working at the business when the armed man burst in.

“One man with a gun came in and just asked for money,” he said.

 “We were so shocked.”

The shaken employee said the man’s face was covered by a balaclava.

He demanded that the employee open the till and give him the contents.

The intruder was brandishing a one-metre-long gun, so the man said he complied and handed him the money.

 “Everyone just wanted him to leave.

“We got scared.”

The gunman left without injuring anyone or firing the weapon, the man said.

The armed robber remains at large along with a getaway driver.

A witness, who was playing the pokies at the time and did not want to be named, said the armed man burst in about 5.45pm on Tuesday.

“It happened in broad bloody daylight,” the witness said.

 “A single guy came in with a weapon. There were three staff at the counter when he came in and they were really distressed afterwards.

“They came into the pokies room and told us they’d just been held up and we had to go. There were about half a dozen of us in the pokies room.”

The witness believed the man had a getaway driver waiting outside the Link Dr shopping complex.

“I think there was someone waiting for him outside in the car park. The cops arrived as I was leaving.”

Waitematā CIB detective senior sergeant Dave Nimmo said an investigation was under way into the aggravated robbery.

He confirmed cash was taken before the robber fled in a waiting vehicle. No one was injured, Nimmo said.

“While no arrests have been made at this stage, police are following positive lines of inquiry into the matter.”

The armed robber arrived before sundown on Monday at the bowling alley in Wairau Park shopping centre. Photo / File

The alley’s owner has been approached for comment.

Anyone with information was asked to contact police via 105 or via their online portal, quoting file number 230926/9833.

Tips can also be supplied anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

Jaime Lyth is an Auckland-based reporter who covers crime. She joined the Herald in 2021 and has previously reported for The Northern Advocate.