2 women at motel grab, thump robber

Victims of a robbery at a west Little Rock motel told an officer that they chased and fought a gunman before getting back some of their belongings.

The Little Rock Police Department responded around 11: 45 a. m. Sunday to a report of a robbery at 200 S. Shackleford Road, the listed address for Americas Best Value Inn.

The victims — a 32- year- old woman from Vinita Park, Mo., and a 26- year- old woman from St. Louis — said someone appeared at their door claiming to be a motel employee.

Both tried to peer through the door’s peephole, but something was covering the opening, according to a police report.

They then asked who was at the door, prompting the man to reportedly answer, “Room service.”

Soon after opening the door, the robber, armed with a black semi- automatic handgun, forced his way inside.

Citing information from the women, an officer noted that the robber “pulled back the slide [ on his gun] to charge it and a live round came out and onto the floor.”

The robber ordered both to start taking their clothes off, and while they did so, the gunman grabbed the women’s purses and ran out of the room, the women told police.

Police said the gunman got into a burgundy- colored vehicle in the motel’s parking lot but was stopped when the women pursued him.

One woman broke the driver’s- side window of the car, grabbed the gunman, pulled him out of the vehicle and began hitting him, according to the report.

Both women continued fighting the robber until they were able to successfully regain their purses, they told the officer.

The man was able to leave with a brown- and- black wallet valued at $ 325, about $ 700 and various cards.