As reported, a convicted felon was shot by a bakery owner after the felon allegedly robbed the bakery and threatened the employees’ lives. Police say that 29 year old Demitrius Newbill, of the 500 block of Poplar Street, entered the Pasteleria Panaderia Bakery on the 700 block of Yeoman Street yesterday at about 8:15 PM. Newbill is then alleged to have asked the bakery owner for a pencil and paper, on which he wrote a demand note claiming to have a gun, while holding his hand under his shirt in a threatening manner. The bakery owner and his employees complied with the demands for money and their cell phones allegedly made by Newbill. The bakery owner then alleges that Newbill reached into his waistband for the object that was thought to be a gun, at which point the bakery owner grabbed his revolver and fired 3 shots in self defense. Newbill survived and was treated at a local hospital, where he allegedly confessed to police for the robbery and pretending to have a gun. Newbill, who was convicted of robbery in 2003, faces up to 15 years in prison on aggravated robbery charges. None of the innocent people were harmed, and the bakery owner is not expected to face charges for defending himself with the gun that he lawfully owned.
For those who do not recognize the deadly threat that a bakery (or any other) robbery represents, the January 27, 2009 robbery of a Cleveland bakery should clear up that confusion. In that Cleveland bakery robbery, the armed criminal entered while the bakery owner’s wife was running the bakery. The criminal demanded that she open the safe and give him large amounts of money. The woman truthfully responded that there was no safe, and that only small amounts of cash were on hand. Enraged, the robber pistol whipped the woman, shot her in the shoulder, and then fled. Luckily, this bakery owner and his employees were protected by the owner’s gun, and did not suffer at the hands of the robber, who cared more about stealing some money than the lives of the hard working employees and owner.