[bernard]

Casino cashier thwarts robbery
Suspect is seized within 5 minutes, without a nickel
By Becky Pallack
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Maybe he didn't think through his plan.

A man who officials say made the first-ever robbery attempt at Desert Diamond Casino was nabbed in around five minutes Friday morning.

The man walked into the South Side casino carrying a shotgun around 5:30 a.m. and demanded money from an employee in the cashier's cage, said Assistant Chief Joe Delgado of the Tohono O'Odham Police Department.

The cashier refused and the man fired once into the ceiling and yelled threats. No one was seriously injured, although some people were scared badly and one person may have been grazed by a ricochet.

Before he could do anything else, the gunman spotted a group of security guards coming toward him, Delgado said.

He ran out a side door without even a quarter, Delgado said. But the would-be robber attracted a lot of attention as he ran.

A cab driver noticed the man, who he said "seemed strange" because he was wearing some kind of mesh mask and running with a gun.

Just behind him were the guards, pointing and saying, "That's him!" said Chris Majors, a driver for Discount Cab.

Majors ran to his car and followed the would-be robber to keep a close eye on him until police could arrive, he said.

The man ran across the street and threw his shotgun over a 6-foot fence at a church and then tried to climb over it. But he couldn't make it over the fence, the cabbie said.

Enraged, the man grabbed for the handles on the taxi doors, which were locked, and then slammed his hand into a window, leaving a handprint on the glass, Majors said.

In those few minutes, two police officers who were patrolling the casino grounds crossed the street and arrested the man. His name will not be released until police have questioned him and charged him with a crime, said John Heintz, a spokesman for the Tohono O'Odham Nation.

Officers from the Tohono O'Odham Police Department and the FBI continued to investigate the incident, which was the first robbery attempt at the casino, 7350 S. Nogales Highway, since it opened more than a decade ago, said casino CEO Joe Calabrese. He said guards and police officers followed security plans and worked well together to catch the suspect.

The casino remained open throughout the incident and a few hundred patrons continued gambling, he said.

Some customers walked past a row of police cars with curious expressions while others quickly continued inside. Some employees talked quietly among themselves or made cell phone calls about the scare after their shifts ended.

Calabrese wanted to assure everyone the robbery attempt was an isolated incident in a normally secure facility.

"We will continue to be diligent in ensuring that we provide a safe and enjoyable gaming experience," he said in a prepared statement.