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Barefoot man reports robbery at Fort Wayne’s Travel Inn

Noah Zimmerman (Courtesy of the Allen County Sheriff's Department)

A man found barefoot early Tuesday morning in the Travel Inn lobby said a gunman came to his room and robbed his roommate.

A police officer responded to a report of an armed robbery at 3:36 a.m. to the hotel at 2712 Coliseum Blvd. W. The man told the officer he had fled but another man was still in the room and the suspect had a gun with an extended clip, according to a police report.

Noah Zimmerman, 20, of the 400 block of Putnam Street was charged with robbery, a Level 3 felony; burglary, a Level 2 felony; and pointing a firearm, a Level 6 felony. Zimmerman was taken to Allen County Lockup and held in lieu of $50,000 bond.

According to the report, the following occurred:

The victim said he was sleeping in the room where he had a roommate when he was awoken by someone knocking on the door. He opened the door to a couple, assuming they had the wrong room.

The man pointed a black handgun, possibly a 9mm, with an extended magazine and a laser on it at the victim and pushed his way into the room.

The victim described the assailant as a light-skinned male, possibly Hispanic, medium build, and about 5-foot, 8 inches tall, and wearing a gray or black hoodie with jeans.

When the gunman pushed his way into the room the victim fled from the room. When he couldn’t get help at the hotel desk he returned to the room to look inside. The gunman told him to get back inside. The gunman was pointing the weapon at his roommate and was going through his pockets. The gunman took the roommate’s picture ID, put his $900 Giuseppe shoes in a bag, and told him to take off the necklace he was wearing. The roommate later told police the gunman had hit him in the back of the head with the firearm. The gunman said the roommate had been talking to his girlfriend at the mall.

The victim said the gunman said he was “gonna air this place out” and feared that the gunman was going to start shooting. The gunman was talking to someone on his phone, telling them to come to the room. The woman told the gunman the victim “didn’t have anything to do with it.” When the gunman’s back was turned, the victim ran again to the lobby.

A witness said he heard a man and woman arguing before they knocked on the door. The man asked if the people inside knew the woman, and they said no. The man kept asking for “her money,” and two other men arrived right before police. Police found five people in the room. One man, identified as Zimmerman and wearing a gray hoodie and jeans, said he had a weapon on him. An officer removed Zimmerman’s black 9mm Glock 26 with an extended magazine and laser attachment from his right hip. The firearm had a bullet in the chamber.

The victim immediately identified Zimmerman as the gunman.

Zimmerman’s Chevrolet Impala was found parked and running on the east side of the building.

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