Alleged Fort Myers robber captured by victims when she accidentally ejects gun's magazine

Michael Braun | The News-Press

A Fort Myers woman who allegedly tried to rob several people at gunpoint in an apartment was overpowered by her victims when she accidentally ejected the handgun's magazine as she pistol-whipped one of them.

Chariese Patrice Peterson, 26, remains in Lee County Jail on $155,000 bond and faces multiple charges of robbery with a firearm, carrying a concealed unlicensed weapon and displaying a firearm during a felony. She will be arraigned Sept. 24.

A Fort Myers police report said Peterson was smoking a cigar with a man around midnight Aug. 21 in a car she had been driving at the Palms Apartments on Morado Street and asked to use the bathroom in his unit.

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The man told police that when she came out of the bathroom she had a gun and pointed it at the head of a woman in the apartment. She then corralled everyone into a bedroom and demanded they give her their phones, jewelry, cash and wallets, the report said.

When one of the victims unsuccessfully tried to take the gun from Peterson, the police report said, she pistol-whipped the female victim, cutting the woman's head and accidentally ejecting the gun's magazine.

Two of the male victims then wrestled Peterson to the ground and called police.

The police report said the car Peterson was allegedly using had been reported stolen.

Peterson has a lengthy arrest record including previous weapons offenses, drug possession and battery.

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