Posted on Thu. Jun. 21, 2012 - 12:46 am EDT

Two men, both wearing ski masks and carrying handguns, entered Do’s Jewelers, 2809 E. State Blvd., and ordered the employee to hand over cash at gunpoint.


Officer Raquel Foster, a city police spokeswoman, said the employee was hit on his head and face with a handgun.


The masked men fired at least one shot in the store, but no one was hit, Foster said.


The would-be robbers left empty-handed, and officers were dispatched to the store about 10:40 a.m.


The employee was taken to a hospital in serious condition, police said.


With descriptions of the getaway vehicle and the direction it was headed, officers stopped two vehicles. Police believe the second one, a red and gray Chevrolet Blazer, may have been the getaway vehicle.


The Blazer was pulled over in the 3200 block of Wayne Trace, about four miles south of the jewelry store. Evidence of the robbery attempt was found in the vehicle, police said, and the driver, Stafford A. Staples Jr., was the only person inside.


Police believe Staples, 18, a city resident, was the getaway driver, Foster said.


He was booked into the Allen County Lockup on a preliminary charge of robbery. His bail was set at $25,000.


The two other men remain at large. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Fort Wayne Police Department at 427-1222 or Crime Stoppers at 436-7867.


Police have not linked this attempted robbery to the holdup reported earlier Wednesday at Laredo Restaurant on Broadway, Foster said.

2 flee on foot after restaurant robbery

Two men robbed a Mexican restaurant Wednesday morning southwest of downtown and eluded a pursuing police officer, according to Fort Wayne police.


Shortly after 9 a.m., officers were sent to Laredo Restaurant, 1854 Broadway near Taylor Street. One of the first officers to arrive saw the robbers fleeing the business in opposite directions, police said.


The officer chased one of the men on foot but ultimately lost sight of him.


Police canvassed the area but did not catch the robbers. They did find clothing the men discarded as they fled, as well as a roll of coins swiped from the register and a handbag taken from a restaurant employee, police said.


Investigators learned that the two men came into the restaurant and demanded cash. One was carrying a handgun; the other had a stun gun.


No one was injured, police said.


Anyone with information about this robbery is asked to call the Fort Wayne Police Department at 427-1222 or Crime Stoppers at 436-7867.

Woman, cat escape apartment fire

A woman and a cat avoided injury during an apartment fire late Tuesday, according to the Fort Wayne Fire Department.


Firefighters were called to 923 1/2 Third St., near Sherman Boulevard, at 10:12 p.m., and they found flames on the back deck of the building’s second floor.


The woman had escaped the apartment before firefighters arrived and rescued the cat, the department said.


The blaze, which moderately damaged the building, was brought under control in about 10 minutes, the department said.


The cause of the fire is under investigation.


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