FROM STAFF REPORTS
TIMOTHY HILLIS
MARBLE FALLS — A 57-year-old Marble Falls man served as a witness to a driving-while intoxicated accident July 18 in the H-E-B parking lot, but then, after giving his statement to police, he walked about a quarter of a mile away and allegedly held up a convenience store.
“One (responding) officer viewed the in-store video from the Kwik Chek and recognized the suspect,” Marble Falls Police Capt. Glenn Hanson said.
Officers identified the suspect as Timothy Michael Hillis, a local man described as a transient.
“Forty-five minutes prior to that, he was a witness to a DWI crash in the parking lot at H-E-B,” Hanson said.
Marble Falls police began fanning out around the area adjacent to the convenience store, located at the intersection of Avenue K and RR 1431. The clerk from the store called 9-1-1 at 8:26 p.m. July 18 and reported that a man entered the store and demanded money.
Hanson said the suspect entered the store and asked the clerk for a pack of cigarettes. The clerk turned to grab a pack of cigarettes, but when she turned around, the man stood with what appeared to be pistol in a coat pocket.
Officers later determined there was no weapon, just his finger, the captain said.
The suspect demanded cash, which the clerk handed over, then fled on foot, Hanson said.
A person outside the store saw the exchange and followed the suspect north on Avenue K, but Hanson said the suspect was on foot and evaded the witness.
Officers began combing the area and asking people if they had seen the suspect. Hanson said when an officer showed an image of the suspect to the clerk at the Quality Inn on U.S. 281, located just south of the Mormon Mill intersection, the clerk said the man had just checked in for a two-night stay.
After securing the area and ensuring the adjacent rooms were vacant, Hanson said investigators called the suspect’s room.
“He didn’t even answer the phone,” Hanson said. “He just came out and gave up.”
Investigators recovered $511.99 the man had allegedly taken from Kwik Chek.
Officers arrested the man and charged him with second-degree robbery. They booked Hillis into the Burnet County Jail, where he is being held in lieu of a $25,000 bond. If convicted, Hillis faces up to 20 years in prison.
It took officers an hour and four minutes to find and arrest the subject from the time the clerk made the 9-1-1 call. Hanson chalked it up to good police work, the clerk’s response to the alleged threat and the witness who provided the direction in which the man fled.
editor@thepicayune.com
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