Four arrested after police surround Cape Girardeau house

Cape Girardeau police, several with guns drawn, spent an intense 30 minutes staking out a house on William Street on Wednesday afternoon based on their suspicion that an armed robbery suspect was inside.

When it was over, four young women were taken into custody on unrelated municipal charges, and police still were in search of a person who allegedly robbed a woman at knife point near a Cape Girardeau bank.

According to police department spokesman Darin Hickey, a woman was walking across the Alliance Bank parking lot on North Kingshighway on Wednesday when a vehicle pulled up with people inside who the victim knew. They got out, assaulted the victim, took an undisclosed amount of money and fled, Hickey said.

The victim's description of the car matched one police had tracked to a house in the 900 block of William Street, Hickey said. The house, near where William Street intersects with Benton Street, soon had more than a dozen officers surrounding it; and several aimed their weapons at the structure, Hickey said. One officer squared a high-powered rifle at a window in which he had noticed movement.

The officers were keyed up, Hickey said, because it appeared the suspect might be armed.

"So it may have sounded a lot worse than it was," Hickey said. "We have to do that because we don't want to be caught not in a good situation to respond."

Names of the women taken into custody were not released pending the filing of formal charges.

While police were present in the south-side neighborhood, several residents reportedly swore loudly at them and mocked them. Because Hickey wasn't there, he said wouldn't comment.

"But we try to handle our business as professionally as possible," he said. "We have to show the utmost respect to everybody."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

900 William Street, Cape Girardeau, MO

217 N. Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau, MO