The man is believed to have used a knife and what appears to be a hand grenade to rob the Hampton Inn, 176 W. Wisconsin Ave.,”A man believed to have committed an armed robbery at a local hotel and attempted to commit two others on Sunday is in police custody.

The man is believed to have used a knife and what appears to be a hand grenade to rob the Hampton Inn, 176 W. Wisconsin Ave. The suspect is also believed to have attempted to rob a 19-year-old female Marquette student and the Hilton Hotel, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave., according to the Milwaukee Police Department.

At approximately 3 p.m. Sunday, the suspect entered the Hampton Inn, displayed what appeared to be a hand grenade and demanded money before he fled on foot, according to MPD Capt. Christopher Domagalski.

About 30 minutes later, the suspect approached a 19-year-old female Marquette student in the second floor of the Wells Street Parking Structure, 1240 W. Wells St., displayed the grenade and the knife and told her to "give him her keys and get in the car," according to Domagalski.

The student screamed and ran toward a 22-year-old male student and another 22-year-old female student who were exiting their car. The students fled the structure on foot, according to Associate Director of Department of Public Safety Capt. Russ Shaw.

"The female student was smart in her actions by calling attention to herself," Shaw said.

The male student called DPS using a Blue Light phone in the structure. MPD and DPS officers secured and searched the building for weapons and explosive devices, nothing was found.

DPS surveillance cameras showed the man fleeing the structure. DPS and MPD checked all vehicles in the building to make sure there were no explosive devices on them, Shaw said.

DPS turned the video surveillance over to MPD to aid in their investigation, Shaw said.

The female student was not harmed in the incident, according to Senior Director of University Communication Mary Pat Pfeil.

At 6:50 p.m., MPD officers arrested the man at Hilton Hotel while he was attempting to commit another armed robbery. A knife and a hand grenade were found on his possession.

The victim in the robbery was not harmed, Domagalski said.

The incident Sunday afternoon occurred at the same time as the Turkey Bowl flag football game at the field behind Abbotsford Hall. Chris Owen, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences and Schroeder Hall residence assistant was participating in the game when he saw DPS and MPD officers, some of whom were carrying shotguns, enter the parking structure.

The game was suspended and students were told to enter their respective dorms by Schroeder Residence Hall Director Adam Patricoski, Owen said.

Billy Doerrer, a Schroeder resident and sophomore in the College of Business Administration, said the situation was calm and the residence halls did a good job handling the situation.

"Nobody was panicking," he said.

Owen said he could see police officers searching the stairwells of the structure through the window of his dorm room.

Students were unable to exit Schroeder Hall on the 13th Street side and were told to walk through the Alumni Memorial Union using the west side exit.

DPS was in the process of issuing a Safety Alert via text message and eMarq when MPD informed them of the arrest, Shaw said.

"About 3,000 students have signed up to receive text message alerts, Shaw said."

Joe Glass of the Tribune contributed to this report.

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