Surveillance video shows a man with what appears to be a gun walk the halls and flee from behind the counter at a Best Western.

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Bob Greene reports

April 21, 2008

Best Western surveillance video

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FORT WORTH — A Fort Worth hotel clerk was found dead on the job early Monday morning. Police believe he may have been killed for cash.

Police investigators are still trying to figure out exactly what happened at the Best Western hotel in the 6500 block of South Freeway.

At around 4:00 a.m., some guests reported hearing what they believed to be gunshots. For whatever reason, no one went to check out the situation.

About 45 minutes later, a guest in the lobby found the clerk behind the front desk of the hotel, lying in a pool of blood. That guest immediately called police, who discovered the hotel's cash register was open.

They believe robbery was the motive behind this murder.

Surveillance video released by Fort Worth police show a black male wearing all black walking the hallways with what appears to be a gun. It also shows the man approach the front desk. He then disappears from the view of the camera as he hops over the desk. He then jumps back in front of the counter, jumps again behind the desk and then jumps back once again and flees out the front doors.

"There are several guests," said police spokesman Lt. Paul Henderson. "The ones that reported hearing gunshots are down at our headquarters providing statements to our detectives."

Police described the slain clerk as a white male in his 60s. They would not say whether the victim had been shot.

The name of the dead man was not released.

E-mail bgreene@wfaa.com