Two men robbed a Waffle House in Little Rock on Tuesday afternoon, taking cash and running off, according to police. The robbery happened one day after a man was carjacked while trying to enter the same restaurant.
Officers were dispatched at 5:50 p.m. to a robbery at the Waffle House at 4200 S. University Ave., police said at the scene Tuesday.
Police said two men entered the restaurant and went into a restroom before emerging and carrying out the robbery.
The robbers took cash and fled on foot, heading north, police said.
Police said the men were seen staking out the restaurant before the robbery, and at least one had a gun.
Money was taken from an office as well as a cash register in the front, police said.
One employee was hit in the back of the head, but she refused medical treatment at the scene, according to police.
The robbers are described only as black men in their 30s.
A 17-year-old Waffle House employee who asked not to be identified said he laid on the floor as the restaurant was robbed.
"I can't believe all this happened," he said.
Police had been called at 1:42 a.m. Monday to the same Waffle House, where a man said he was robbed while trying to enter the restaurant, according to a report.
Kenneth Broyles, 19, said he was attempting to enter the restaurant when a man approached and showed a handgun that was tucked into his waistband, police said.
The man told the Broyles to give up his car and any money in his wallet, according to the report. Broyles handed over $20, he told police.
The man got into Broyles' vehicle and then yelled to a woman to get in, too, police said.
About an hour after the initial call, police found Broyles' vehicle at a RaceWay gas station at 6425 S. University Ave.
Officers reported that Vaulah Shaw, 19, of Little Rock was seen exiting the restroom of the gas station and he was taken into custody.
Police reported finding a weapon in the restroom and a bag of "green veggie matter" on Shaw.
Broyles identified Shaw in a photo spread and Shaw admitted to the robbery, according to an arrest report.
Shaw was charged with aggravated robbery, theft of property and possession of marijuana, according to a report. The woman was released without charges.
Shaw was listed on Pulaski County jail's inmate roster Tuesday evening.
Waffle House restaurants in central Arkansas have seen a rash of robberies over the past weeks, with holdups in Conway, Searcy and Little Rock.
The Waffle House on Bankhead Drive in Little Rock was robbed twice on Sept. 11 alone, according to police reports.
Metro on 09/21/2016