Columbia Motel Robbed Saturday

*** UPDATED Saturday 6:34 P.M. *** As of this writing, police are still looking for the armed suspect in the early morning robbery Saturday. This same motel was robbed the second time this month. ABC 17 News covered the earlier robbery on Dec. 1st, where two gunmen robbed the clerk at the front desk at gunpoint, according to police. This is now the 21st reported robbery in Columbia since the start of December, averaging about one robbery a day. ***ORIGINAL STORY***Columbia police are investigating an armed robbery that happened early Saturday morning.Just before 4:30 a.m., officers were dispatched to the America’s Best Value Inn on Providence Road near Vandiver Drive.According to police, the suspect knocked on the locked entrance and the clerk allowed the man inside. When the suspect entered, he showed the clerk a handgun and demanded money.The clerk ran away from the suspect, escaped out a side door and hid while calling police. By the time officers arrived, the suspect was gone. Police say the suspect left without money, but did take a laptop computer from the motel. A K-9 unit was called to the scene, but was unable to track the suspect.Police describe the suspect as a black male, around six feet tall, last seen wearing a blue jacket, unknown colored pants, and a light-colored scarf covering his face.