Rockdale Citizen

Photo by Erin McGinn

CONYERS -- Police are looking for a man who broke into the apartment of a Mill Crest Walk woman, held her at gunpoint, demanded money and fled with her purse.

The 55-year-old victim told the Conyers Police Department that she was lying on her couch Sunday about 2 a.m. when she heard a knock on her front door, which she did not answer. At about that time the power to her apartment blinked off and then on again. About 20 minutes later, the victim told police that she heard another knock on her door, a flashlight beam was directed into her living room, and a voice called, "Police ... open up!"

The victim said she went to the kitchen at the rear of the apartment and then heard a loud banging on the front door just before the door was kicked in and an unknown man entered the residence. The victim got down on the floor behind the kitchen table where the suspect pointed a silver pistol to her head and asked, "Where is the money at?"

The victim pleaded, "Please don't kill me," and the suspect grabbed her purse and ran out of the apartment.

The suspect was described as black with a dark complexion, heavy set, about 6 feet tall, wearing a black wool hat, a black T-shirt, black pants and a black scarf covering his face.

The victim said that her purse contained some personal papers, her Social Security card, Georgia identification card, a house key and a Visa debit card. The debit card was used shortly after the theft, leaving the victim with a negative balance of $182.

Police searched the area and found footprints leading from the front of the apartment to the electrical meters at the rear. Police found that some of the covers to the disconnections on the meters had been lifted.

Police called for the K-9 unit from the Newton County Sheriff's Office to come to the scene and attempt to track the suspect. During the K-9 track police found footprints matching those around the electrical meters.