(KATV) Conway - Bell ringer one....
armed suspect zero. This week two Salvation Army bell ringers were approached
and asked to hand over their red kettles. In both cases, the suspect walked
away empty handed. The incidents happened Tuesday evening off Skyline Drive. First
at the Walmart and then at JcPenney. The bell ringers were so calm they didn't
even call Conway police.
It all worked out in
this case but police warn that whether it's a red kettle, your purse or car
keys, if someone approaches you; especially if they have a gun you need to
comply and report it.
Volunteers with the
Salvation Army are back. They're raising money to support local services like
food, child Christmas gifts, shelters, job training and people recovering from
disasters.
Johnnie Hightower
says, "Thank you very much you have a very Christmas." This is Hightower's
first year as a bell ringer. He is volunteering 40 hours a week and has been
assigned to the location where an attempted robbery happened just two days ago.
He says, "I don't even
think about that, I just think about doing positive. There are too many good
people out here to worry about the bad. I just think about the smiles on
peoples face when they come and give."
The would-be robber
reportedly started at the Walmart on Skyline but the bell ringer stood his
ground. The suspect and his passengers then drove down the road to JcPenney
where he walked up to the ringer with a dollar, and then held up a 9 millimeter
gun and asked for the kettle.
Latresha Woodruff
with the Conway Police Department explains, "At that point the victim told
him, ‘You can do whatever you want, I'm not going to give you the kettle' and
they stared each other down for just a little bit and the car pulled off."
The volunteers
continued to ring their bells and didn't contact police. "If he had reported it immediately there
is a possibility we could have started looking for the person and potentially
stop them before they do this again, and the next time who knows," Woodruff
says.
Not only did the
suspect get away without the kettle, the dollar the suspect handed the bell
ringer made it into the kettle for charity.
Conway police are looking
for a red Camaro. It possibly has a Missouri license plate. The male suspect
had two female passengers and a male passenger. All four are reportedly black and
in their 20's.
