NATCHEZ — Tips from a Natchez City Jail inmate ultimately led to a reported confession from the man believed to have unsuccessfully tried twice to rob the Isle of Capri Hotel on Monday.

Natchez Detective Jerry Ford said Eric Holmes, 26, 111 Hictober St., was charged Thursday with attempted armed robbery.

Holmes, wearing a hooded jacket and a bandanna over his face, reportedly entered the hotel on South Canal Street early in the 4 a.m. hour Monday morning, pointing a gun at the desk clerk and demanding money.

Ford said the hotel clerk screamed, startled Holmes and then locked herself in the hotel’s office. Holmes then ran out of the hotel, Ford said.

But a review of the hotel’s security footage shows Holmes had apparently already been in the building and been unsuccessful before the attempted robbery of the desk clerk.

“(The clerk) had walked off at one point to attend to some other business, and while she was attending to other business, (the suspect) came in and, when he didn’t see anyone, he immediately jumped over the counter,” Ford said.

Holmes began opening drawers and could not find anything, Ford said, so he jumped back over the counter and walked out of the hotel.

When the clerk returned to the front desk, Holmes was apparently waiting outside and reentered the hotel with the gun, Ford said.

Investigators initially suspected Holmes as the robber because he lives close to the hotel and has prior robbery charges, Ford said.

An inmate at the jail who was arrested on an unrelated charge, Ford said, told police during questioning that Holmes was the alleged robber.

Police were able to use the inmate’s tips to recover a .45 revolver that they believe Holmes used in the robbery in a garage owned by Holmes’ mother.

Holmes confessed to the attempted robbery Thursday, Ford said.