ROBBERY ENDS IN PARK SUICIDE: PHARMACIST SAYS ROBBER WANTED ANTI-ANXIETY DRUG

Steven Marberry, 44, of Cape Girardeau would not be taken alive.

Facing arrest for armed robbery, he took his own life in Arena Park with one gunshot to the head.

When a call came in at 4 p.m. Monday that the Medicine Shoppe pharmacy on Kingshighway had just been robbed at gunpoint, a Cape Girardeau policeman was making a traffic stop at the nearby intersection of Broadway and Kingshighway.

The officer left the traffic stop, Cape Girardeau police reported, and began northbound on Kingshighway.

Almost immediately, Cape Girardeau police officer Steven "Pete" Peterson spotted a man matching the description of the suspect -- in camouflage fatigues and a ski mask -- fleeing the scene of the robbery southbound on a bicycle.

Peterson pursued the suspect west, past Maria Louise Street, into Arena Park. In the open, deserted area, the officer drew his sidearm and ordered the man to drop his weapon.

Marberry, according to police, then pulled his revolver, placed it to his temple and shot himself.

He was taken by ambulance to the Southeast Missouri Hospital triage unit, where he was pronounced dead at about 4:40 p.m.

After hearing that the suspect was acting erratically, Cape Girardeau Police Chief Richard Hetzel said his first thought was of his officers' safety.

"I was listening to the scanner in the station," said Hetzel. "The minute I heard he had a gun to his head, I thought, I hope my officers have cover."

No other injuries were reported at Arena Park or at the Medicine Shoppe, where Marberry pointed his revolver at a clerk and demanded Xanax, a prescription anti-anxiety medication. Pharmacist Bill Carman said Marberry didn't ask for money.

"When he came in wearing a ski mask, I had a feeling we were about to be robbed," Carman said. "There were just two of us here. Nobody else was in the store."

Carman said he handed over the pills without argument.

Managing editor Heidi Hall contributed to this report.