Trackers spent much of Sunday looking for a man who struck a gambler on the head with a .38-caliber gun and stole $3,000 from him before leaving the First Council Casino south of Arkansas City on foot.
“They concluded that he went north of the casino and more than likely got into a vehicle around the Chilocco entrance,” Cowley County Sheriff Bob Odell said.
The suspect has not been located.
The gambler, a 40-year-old Wichita man whose name has not been released, was sleeping in his vehicle in the parking lot about 9 a.m. when the robber opened the door, pulled the victim out of the vehicle and then got into the pocket on the victim’s clothing where he had put his winnings, Kay County Deputy Sheriff Lewain Learn said.
“The gentleman tried to resist and the suspect hit him over the head with the gun,” he said. The victim was treated at South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center in Arkansas City for a one-inch laceration on the back of his head.
The suspect was described as a black man wearing a blue and white shirt, red shorts, athletic shoes and a black cap. He headed north on foot after the robbery.
“People come down and gamble on the weekend. They sit out (in the parking lot) and catch a couple of hours nap and go back in and gamble,” Learn said. “They do that the whole weekend.”
Investigators are following leads and reviewing videos at the casino. They have no suspect, Learn said.
