Wig & bra-wearing gunman robs St. Roch bar, beats bartender

NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) - The manager of a St. Roch neighborhood bar says an armed robber violently attacked a bartender - even after he'd gotten the money he came for.

On Friday afternoon, a wig-wearing armed robber held up the St. Roch Tavern and beat the bartender after she complied with his demands.

Bar manager Martha Wood said the gunman, a black male in his late teens or early 20s, was also wearing a bra, and entered the bar as the bartender was writing drink specials on a board outside. She followed him in and asked for ID. He responded by asking for ice.

Once she was behind the bar, the robber pulled a gun and forced her to open a drawer where the poker machine money is kept.

"As he was walking behind the bar he was saying, I'm gonna shoot you b**** and  all kinds of  stuff and had the gun in her back like something in a movie," Wood said.

Before he took off, he hit her with the gun and kicked her in the head.

"That's what really, really frustrates us right now, cause we've been robbed before," Wood said. "I mean, it sucks! It always sucks to get robbed, but it's never been a violent crime. And we've been robbed with guns involved, but never violently, and they just got their money and left. This was different."

Wood said the victim's nose may be broken, but she is expected to recover.

St. Roch Tavern is offering a $5,000 reward in the case.

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