Police blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office:
Evans restaurant robbed
Police were looking for a man who they say used a gun to rob an Evans restaurant after it closed early Monday morning.
The female manager of Fatz Cafe, at 464 N. Belair Road, told police that after locking the restaurant just before 12:30 a.m. Monday, she walked to her car in the front parking lot, where a man grabbed her and brandished a handgun. The manager said the man demanded to be let into the restaurant to steal money, the report stated.
The manager told police she unlocked the door, after which the man forced her to remove cash from the restaurant's safe and place it into a white plastic trash bag.
The manager said the robber left the restaurant with the money.
Woman has photos taken from van
People suspected in the theft of photos from a Martinez woman's minivan came back to the scene of the crime Thursday looking for their keys.
The woman, of Roswell Drive in Martinez, told police that at about 7 a.m. while driving to work, she noticed her purse missing from between the seats of her Dodge Grand Caravan. When she returned home just before 3 p.m., she found her purse in a wooded area near her home. The only missing items were wallet-size family photos. With the purse, the woman also located a set of keys that didn't belong to her and turned them over to police.
At about 5:30 p.m., the woman called police again to report two young men walking around the wooded area where she found her purse. The woman talked to the pair of men and found out they were looking for keys matching the description of keys she found and turned in to police, the report stated. She told the men they would have to contact the sheriff's office to retrieve the keys.
The woman also reported a blue Mazda 626 that was parked near her home that didn't belong to anyone she knew. Police towed the vehicle to the sheriff's office impound lot, where investigators confirmed that the found set of keys fit the car, the report stated.
Barn fire ruled arson
Fire officials have determined that a June 15 Harlem barn fire was intentionally set.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue Chief Doug Cooper called the sheriff's office June 15 after firefighters extinguished a blaze in the barn at 1618 Swint Road, on property owned by Nelson and Elizabeth Waks, of Germantown, Md. Cooper told deputies the fire began with several paper bags of animal feed that were intentionally ignited on the ground in the middle of the barn, the report stated.
A neighbor noticed the smoke just before 5 p.m., and his wife called the fire department, the report stated.
Worker reports being shot at
A convenience store clerk reported being nearly hit by a ball-bearing projectile as he sat outside a Martinez store early Sunday morning.
The clerk told police he was outside the Circle K at 4020 Columbia Road when a dark vehicle passed the store on Flowing Wells Road. The clerk told police the occupants of the vehicle fired a large ball bearing from an unidentified weapon toward him.
The clerk said the projectile hit and shattered a window within three feet of him. The ball bearing was located and taken as evidence.
Martinez Fire Department Activity Report for the week of June 12-18:
Structure fires, two; grass fire, one; vehicle fires, two; controlled burn, one; fire alarms, nine; medical calls, 17; rescue calls, 11; investigation, one; public service, six; mutual aid, one; and other, two.