Searching for some shred of evidence to a brazen early Sunday-morning shooting outside Palo Alto police headquarters, police teams in orange vests scanned the shrubbery at the Civic Center with metal detectors into the late afternoon.

"Sometime these guys throw things away when they run," police Agent Dan Ryan said.

The victim is reported in extremely critical condition at Stanford Hospital, on a life-support respirator.

Police taped off two blocks next to the Civic Center and police headquarters while the investigation was underway.

In the early morning hours, a young man in his mid-20s was robbed, then shot, as he waited for friends at his car, a brown Lexus, after visiting some downtown bars. Police withheld all personal information about the victim.

Friends said the victim was standing outside his car when the shooter approached.

Some sort of altercation took place prior to the robbery and shooting, Ryan said.

In front of witnesses -- the victim was accompanied by some of his friends as they waited to carpool with others -- the suspect robbed the victim of some personal items, started to leave but turned back and shot the victim, Ryan said.

The suspect was not known to the witnesses. He was last seen running south on Bryant Street. Ryan said he may have cut through the parking lot behind the Downtown Library over to Ramona Street.

Sgt. Sandra Brown said at 1:45 a.m. police responded to reports of gunshots in the 600 block of Bryant Street, where the victim and his friends were found.

All today and late into the afternoon, yellow crime-scene tape cordoned off the intersection of Forest Avenue at Bryant and Ramona streets and at Hamilton Avenue and Bryant.

Police blocked off every entrance and exit to the Civic Center as they searched for evidence. They brought in police cadets and all reserve officers to comb the crime scene.

The victim's brown Lexus sedan remained parked mid-block next to the Civic Center building, midway between the underground police garage and the public-parking garage on the east side of the plaza.

The evidence teams, clad in orange vests, headphones and carrying metal detectors, searched every inch of ivy and sidewalk at the center, outside police headquarters and across the street at the downtown library, in search of bullet casings or other evidence.

The man remains in critical condition, reportedly near death, at Stanford University Hospital.

The shooter is described as a Pacific Islander, approximately 21 years old, wearing a black beanie cap, black gloves and a black hooded sweatshirt, Ryan said.

Anyone with information about the robbery may contact the police at 650-329-2413.

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