[This post has been updated]

A 45-year-old Frederick County man and hospital patient who was shot and seriously injured Thursday evening in a downtown parking garage was a victim of an apparent robbery, officials said.

Police said that the condition of the unidentified man, who is from Middletown, Md., had improved and confirmed that the man had been a patient at a nearby hospital, but declined to specify a motive for the shooting, which occurred on the sixth level of an underground garage at Greene and Redwood streets.

Robert F. Cherry, president of the city police union, took to the union's Twitter page and said that the victim had been shot three times in a robbery try. He had been visiting the hospital for treatment after being stabbed in a recent home invasion, Cherry said.

A source with knowledge of the investigation corroborated that information, saying the gunman demanded the man's keys and wallet. The man refused, the source said, and was shot at four times as he ran away. Three of the bullets struck him in the back.

Cherry blasted the city and police department for not releasing more information.

“A patient leaving the University of Maryland is robbed and shot and no news from the BPD or City? This should outrage every citizen!” Cherry wrote on Twitter Thursday night.

Councilman William Cole IV also said police should release more information to the public. “I want to know as quickly as humanly possible what's going on. I do think the public needs to know what's happening, and at the same time I'd like to know what the next steps are going to be. I'd like to know if it was captured on video,” Cole said.

“The more information the better, so that people can respond appropriately,” Cole said.

Students at nearby University of Maryland, Baltimore were also critical of a lack of information disseminated while the crime scene was unfolding. An “alert” message went to students at 1:38 p.m. Friday.

The shooting occurred just before 6 p.m. in the busy garage, which is patrolled by a private security force. Officers were nearby, but not on that floor, a source said.

The victim has no prior criminal record, but detectives were exploring any possible correlation between the home invasion and the shooting, the source said. However, preliminary indications were that the shooting was a robbery gone awry.

Friday afternoon, the University Maryland sent out an e-mail to students and staff describing the suspect as a black male in his 20s, who was wearing a Ravens hat, a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

“The University of Maryland Police Force remains vigilant in its effort to keep the Campus and its surrounding community safe through the continued cooperation and intelligence sharing with the Baltimore Police Department. We have increased our patrols on Campus and in the garages,” the e-mail said.