Pizzeria manager shoots 2 robbers

BRENNA R. KELLY
of The Tampa Tribune
http://www.tampatrib.com/

Dec 25, 2000 - 03:49 PM

TAMPA - Two would-be robbers had the tables turned on them Saturday night when the manager of a pizza restaurant shot the pair.

Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies said two men, each carrying a gun, entered Hungry Howie's Pizza & Subs at 8802 Rocky Creek Drive just after 11 p.m. and ordered two employees onto the floor. They then told the manager to open the cash register.

As manager Dan Jones, 36, opened the register drawer, he grabbed a .44-caliber Magnum and fired at the robbers. Both were hit and ran from the store to a waiting white Buick, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

The driver took the pair to Town & Country Hospital, then sped away, authorities said.

Aaron Baker, 19, was transferred to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was in critical condition after surgery Sunday morning. Joseph Mumaw, 21, was in stable condition at Town & Country. Both men were charged with armed robbery.

About 1 a.m., deputies found the driver and the Buick, which was reported stolen from Pinellas County, Carter said.

Christopher Brookhouser, 24, was arrested at the apartment the three men share at 10802 W. Hillsborough Ave. He was charged with armed robbery and grand theft auto.

This was not Baker and Mumaw's first encounter with police.

On May 12, Baker was charged with being a felon in possession of a gun, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of the drug ecstasy. He was released June 22 on $3,500 bail. In August, he was charged with uttering a forged instrument and petty theft. Baker is serving 4 1/2 years probation on those charges, records show.

Mumaw is on felony probation until 2003. In 1997, he was convicted of armed burglary, stealing a gun, stealing a car, burglary and being a felon in possession of a handgun. In January 1998, he was sentenced to two years in prison on those charges. He was released in March 1999.

Brenna R. Kelly can be reached at (813) 885-5437.

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