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Austin, Texas

From the Statesman of May 5, 2010

Restaurant owners fight off would-be robber

A Cedar Park man is facing aggravated robbery charges after displaying a semi-automatic handgun at a North Austin restaurant but getting chased away by an alert owner, according to an arrest affidavit issued Tuesday.

Forrest Blackwelder-Baggett, 21, walked into the Delta’s Restaurant on Parmer Lane near Lamplight Village Avenue on Sunday evening and pointed the weapon at Ehsan Gharibi, the owner of the restaurant, the arrest affidavit said.

“Give me all the cash,” he told Gharibi, the arrest affidavit said.

After Blackwelder-Baggett pointed the weapon at a female employee trying to dial 911, Gharibi reached out for Blackwelder-Baggett, twisted his arm and took the gun away, the affidavit said.

The female employee, Nilo Arellano, then grabbed Blackwelder-Baggett’s fingers and bent them back and beat on his arm with her cell phone, the affidavit said. Gharibi then came around the counter to grab Blackwelder-Baggett, the affidavit said.

“Please let me go,” Blackwelder-Baggett told Gharibi, who then pushed him out the front door.

Blackwelder-Baggett then drove off in a vehicle, as Arellano wrote down his license plate, the affidavit said. Blackwelder-Baggett swerved the vehicle toward Arellano and then drove away, the affidavit said.

Cedar Park police responded to an address in Cedar Park that matched the vehicle, the affidavit said. He was taken into custody, and then put in the custody of Austin police, the affidavit said.

Blackwelder-Baggett is in the Travis County Jail on $50,000 bail, records show.

SIA found the above report on http://www.thearmedcitizen.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;