Police search for armed robbery suspect
Published 9:51 am Thursday, December 11, 2014
Rather than hand over her money to an armed robber Thursday, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception Cathedral told him to shoot her in the name of Jesus, a witness said.
The woman and a man were robbed as they stood in the breezeway outside the cathedral, waiting for Mass to begin. From Kirby Street, the robber walked north on Bilbo Street, then entered the breezeway, the man said. The robber first asked where the pastor was, but when the man and woman told him they didn’t know, he lifted his shirt to show them a gun and demanded money.
The man said he gave him $35 and took one of two envelopes the woman held and handed it to the robber, but the woman refused to turn over the other envelope.
“Shoot. In the name of Jesus, shoot,” the woman told the robber, the man said. “He kept saying, ‘Tell her to give me the money,’ and she said ‘No, shoot. In the name of Jesus, shoot.’ ” The robber then left, heading east on Kirby Street.
After giving a statement at the Lake Charles Police Department, the woman returned to the cathedral for noon Mass.
The man said he was shocked that such a crime happened in Lake Charles and suggested the cathedral install cameras.
The Rev. Rommel Tolentino urged those attending Mass to be careful and said that the cathedral had requested a police presence at the time of Mass.
Pedestrians stopping by the church asking for money is common, but “we’ve never had it like this where somebody had a gun,” the cathedral’s maintenance man, Phillip Ardoin, said.
There have been no arrests, said Deputy Police Chief Mark Kraus. The robber was described as black, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8, and 150 to 160 pounds. Anyone with information can call detectives Colby Thompson or Willie Fontenot at 491-1311 or Crime Stoppers at 439-2222.