Manning community relieved after violent robbery suspect’s capture

By Patricia Burkett
WBTW Anchor/ Reporter
Published: July 8, 2008

MANNING — Many members of the Manning community say they’re relieved now that robbery suspect Norman Pauling of Florence has been captured.

Pauling, who is accused of pistol whipping two women in Manning and wreaking havoc across at least three states, is scheduled to appear in court today in Custer County, Okla., where he was caught, the Associated Press reported.

Manning Police Chief Randy Garrett said Pauling first robbed a Wendy’s restaurant in Santee, then robbed a Money Express store on U.S. 301 in Manning on July 1.

During the Manning robbery, Garrett said, Pauling put a gun to the clerk’s head and pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired.

The suspect also beat the female employee of a nearby movie rental store who tried to come to the clerk’s aid, Garrett said.

Ozzie Tisdale, an employee at the movie rental store, said he was scheduled to be off on the day of the crimes but received an alarming phone call from his manager that morning.

“She was kind of upset, telling me to get into the store really fast, so I rushed up here,” he said. “By the time I get up here, everybody’s already gone. The cops are here, they hand me the keys and I have to get the stuff going for the store and, as soon as I had a chance, I was trying to figure out exactly what happened.”

Tisdale knows both of the women involved in the crimes and described both as caring and kind. He also said that the idea of someone beating them is extremely disconcerting.

“It’s cowardly. I don’t know what could bring somebody to that point,” he said.

Tisdale said Pauling’s arrest has given him and other Manning residents some peace of mind, but said it can never erase from his mind what authorities say happened right next door to his workplace.

“This type of stuff, it just doesn’t need to happen anymore,” he said. “It doesn’t feel right. Manning shouldn’t have these problems.”

As for the victims involved in the crimes, both continue to recover from their injuries.

Garrett said Pauling beat that clerk so severely she’s remains at an area hospital, where she underwent reconstructive surgery for skull and facial fractures.

The other victim is recovering at home, but has not yet returned to work.

Pauling was riding in a car that was registered to a Tennessee resident when he was arrested Monday afternoon by Clinton police in Custer County, Okla., after a chase, the Associated Press reported. During the chase, police said, Pauling threw items out of the car that included identification for people living in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Clinton Police Detective Mike Murley told the AP Pauling was spotted by a pizza restaurant patron who saw the suspect trying to break into cars in the parking lot.

In Charlotte, N.C., Pauling is accused of stealing a pickup and taking it to Cookeville, Tenn., Murley said. There, police said, he robbed and assaulted a woman in the parking lot of a grocery store.

Pauling was traveling through Oklahoma in a car that was registered to a Tennessee owner, Murley said.

“During the interview he said he was headed to California,” Murley said.