SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — College Park police are searching for a man who held hotel employees, patrons, and even children at gunpoint during two armed robberies Wednesday.
It started around 7:30 a.m. at the Country Inn and Suites off West Fayetteville Road.
“He brandishes a silver revolver and demands money from the clerk,” said Maj. L.J. Patterson.
Right after, officers say he robbed a woman of her purse in the lobby, then went into the hotel office and tried to break into a safe, where he was captured on surveillance cameras.
Hours later, just a mile from the hotel, the man held children at gunpoint inside their apartment, according to police.
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“I was like 'He's gonna kill us. We're gonna die,’” said a 13-year-old who was in the home at the time.
She says she and her family were led to a closet, held at gunpoint and robbed.
“I was begging God to help us. I was praying in the closet for God,” she said.
The children say the man walked in through a back sliding door yelling at them for money.
“I was on my phone and then he was pointing at me with a gun and then he was like, ‘I need some money,’” one victim said.
He held a grandmother, mother and four children between the ages of 7 and 17 at gunpoint inside the tiny upstairs bedroom closet. The victims say he violated their grandmother.
“He pulled up her shirt and pushed her up the stairs,” a victim said.
They say he even tried to force their 16-year-old cousin, who suffers from cerebral palsy, to walk, but she couldn’t, so she remained downstairs during the robbery. Inside the closet, the children called 911.
College Park police say they believe the man is responsible for three other hotel robberies over the past month and a half.
“Please take a good look. If you see this gentleman. If you think you recognize him, please give us a call,” Patterson said.