FORT SMITH -- The robber of a Fort Smith store fired two shots at a customer who didn't immediately lie on the floor because he was Hispanic and didn't understand English, according to Fort Smith police.
Police have made one arrest in the May 23 robbery of the Family Dollar store at 3201 Grand Ave. and are looking for two others and a vehicle believed used in the robbery, according to a news release from police Sgt. Daniel Grubbs.
Donovan Cobbs, 23, was charged in Fort Smith District Court on Friday with aggravated robbery in last weekend's holdup. He also was charged with misdemeanor obstructing government operations, accused of giving a false name to an officer who stopped him Tuesday, when he was arrested.
He was held without bail Friday in the Sebastian County jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned in court on Monday, according to the prosecuting attorney's office.
Police reports say two men entered the Family Dollar store about 2:40 p.m. May 23. One of the men was dressed all in black with a black mask and had a semi-automatic handgun; the other man was wearing black pants and a gray hoodie with a red bandanna covering his face, the reports said.
The man with the gun held it to the store manager's back and demanded she open the safe, the reports said. The men took $798 from the safe and a cash drawer, according to the reports, and loaded a bag with soft drinks and candy.
Viewing a store security camera video, according to the reports, detectives saw that during the robbery, a Hispanic man walked into the store. The robber with the gun pointed it at the man and ordered him to lie on the floor. The man, who did not speak English, did not comply. The gunman then fired a shot down an aisle behind the man and ordered him a second time to lie on the floor, the reports said.
When the man still did not lie down, the gunman fired a second shot that hit a sign just beside the man, then jumped over the counter and forced the man to the floor, the reports said.
A second customer entered and was immediately forced to the floor, the reports said.
No one was hurt.
The reports also said the security video showed Cobbs, undisguised, entering the store just before the robbery, walking through the store and leaving. He got into a white car with the front bumper missing and drove out of sight at the east side of the store, the reports said.
About five minutes later, the two robbers ran up to the store from the east, and the white car circled the store until the two robbers left and jumped into the car, which drove away, the reports said.
NW News on 05/30/2015