Citizen's Tip Leads To Man's Arrest for Hotel Robbery: Police

NASHVILLE, TN — The Metro Nashville police announced Thursday that the man accused of holding up a Donelson hotel with a rifle has been apprehended. Dibrell Pruitt, 25, of Nashville was arrested for the armed robbery overnight of the Alexis Inn & Suites near Nashville International Airport.

The rifle was recovered, and Pruitt has been charged with aggravated robbery, the police said. His bond was set at $50,000.

The police said a tip by a private citizen led to Pruitt's arrest Thursday at his apartment on Murfreesboro Pike. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

The robbery at the hotel, off Elm Hill Pike, took place at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday, WTVF-TV NewsChannel 5 reported. The police said the individual also tried to rob another hotel in the area.

At the Alexis Inn, the robber walked up to the clerk and pulled out a rifle from under his sweatshirt, NewsChannel 5 reported. The robber wore a mask, a blue hooded sweatshirt and shorts, the police said.

He told the clerk to open the hotel's safe, but the clerk didn't know the code. The robber then fled with about $300 from the cash register, jumping into his vehicle and driving west on Elm Hill Pike, NewsChannel 5 reported.

Police detectives took Pruitt into custody at his apartment "after a citizen alerted a District Attorney’s Office investigator, who happened to be in the complex, that Pruitt had likely committed the robbery," the police said in a statement.

They said they also recovered the rifle, money and a black mask.

Image: above, Shutterstock; below, Dibrell Pruitt (MNPD)