Man arrested in Cape Mart robbery

A man is in jail on charges he tied a clerk's hands behind her back and robbed her at gunpoint Friday night at a Cape Girardeau convenience store.

Omar D. Ware, 27, faces felony charges of first-degree robbery, felonious restraint and resisting arrest and a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault of a law enforcement officer.

According to a probable-cause statement filed by officer D. Hays of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, Ware said he robbed the Cape Mart convenience store, 238 N. Fountain St., at the instruction of three men from whom he had hoped to buy marijuana.

Ware told Hays the men -- two of whom had cased the store before his arrival -- gave him a toy gun and sent him into the store, where he approached a woman in the back office and made her give him money and cigarettes, Hays wrote.

Ware said after the woman placed cigarettes and money into a trash bag for him, he told her to lie on the ground on her stomach, tied her hands behind her back with "a cord of some sort" and took her cellphone and keys, Hays wrote.

"He said that he then ran out the store and saw me standing there with my shotgun," Hays wrote. "He said that it scared him and that is why he ran."

Another employee told Hays she was in a back room on the opposite side of the store when she heard a noise and went to the front door to find Ware standing in the office area, saying, "I'm not going to hurt you; just give me the money," Hays wrote.

The employee, who went out the front door and called 911, later identified Ware as the robber, Hays wrote.

Outside the store, Ware dropped the bag and led police up Fountain Street to the Lorimier apartments at Fountain and Park streets, where he approached three people, offered them $100 to give him a ride -- which they declined to do -- and kept running until officers finally caught him in a wooded area between Old Lorimier Cemetery and North Spanish Street, Hays wrote.

Public information officer Darin Hickey of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said the assault charge stemmed from minor injuries an officer sustained while chasing Ware.

"An officer fell and was injured during the foot chase, and that's why he was charged with misdemeanor assault on a law enforcement officer," Hickey said.

Ware's bond was set at $100,000 cash only.

Online court records for Missouri and Southern Illinois show no prior criminal charges for Ware.

An incident summary from the Cape Girardeau Police Department indicates he is homeless.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

238 N. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.