“A gentleman entered the store with a gun and instructed my manager to open up the cash register,” Schoenfeld said.
The man, who Schoenfeld described as having a T-shirt wrapped around his face like a mask, also told the manager to open the safe. He took the money, and walked out.
Nobody was hurt, Schoenfeld said.
“We’ve never been robbed during business hours before,” he said.
“We don’t care about the money; we’re just glad everybody’s safe,” he said. “The safety of our employees is the number one priority.”
The pizza restaurant re-opened for business with normal hours today, the owner said.
It’s Marco’s Pizza’s sixth year in business in Fairfield.
“I think a situation like this could happen anywhere across the Tristate area or across the country, frankly. We were just the unlucky ones,” he said.
“By no means are we going to let this take away from the product or service we provide.”
The Journal-News has requested more information from the Fairfield Police Department.
MIDDLETOWN
Mulch fire closes restaurant temporarily
A small mulch fire during the busy lunch rush temporarily closed a Middletown restaurant Friday.
The incident at the Steak n Shake, 3170 Towne Blvd., appears to the be result of someone tossing a lit cigarette butt into a mulch bed outside the restaurant, causing a small fire sometime before 12:15 p.m.
Middletown Fire Chief Paul Lolli said there was some smoke inside the restaurant from the small fire. He said the fire got into the cornice of the building requiring firefighters to pull off some exterior siding forcing the restaurant to close until later that afternoon. The damages were estimated damages at $5,000 to the building and no one was reported injured as a result of the fire.
Lolli said there have been three to four instances where people going through drive throughs are tossing their cigarette butts and starting small fires. He said all of the previous fires were extinguished quickly.
Jason Jett, the restaurant’s manager, said there was a lot of people there during the lunch rush and he expected to reopen Friday after employees clean things up inside. He said he did not know how much the restaurant lost in business by being closed for a few hours.
City Health Department inspectors visited the restaurant and found there was no internal damage and that it could reopen after the interior was cleaned up, according to Health Commissioner Jackie Phillips. ED RICHTER
MIDDLETOWN
Fight erupts after softball game
An argument over a boy turned into a physical fight after a softball game Wednesday afternoon, and a bystander captured the incident on video as dozens looked on.
It started with taunting, and soon the girls weren’t throwing softballs — they were throwing punches.
During the game at Goldman Park, a girl’s family members were taunting another girl who was playing first base, according to a police report.
In the video obtained by our news partner WCPO 9 On Your Side, one girl is heard saying, “He wants me honey, do you not realize that? You want to see the message?”
Someone who appears to be a grown woman later shouts, “Beat her (expletive).”
Soon, one girl approaches the second, and the second appears to punch first. They start hitting each other and fall down. Someone else begins kicking one of the girls. Even a dog rushes in.
One girl later gets on top of the other and begins hitting her in the head repeatedly.
Adults finally separated the girls.
While the incident report lists several names, it is unclear if anyone has been charged at this time. Police did not comment Friday.
Officials with Middletown Youth Softball, however, said they doled out their own justice: The three girls involved were suspended for a game, two parents were suspended for two games, and two other adults were suspended for a week.
If it happens again, board vice president Chris Cantwell said, all of them could be banned for the season.
“My personal opinion is, I wish the parents would help us board members stop the nonsense,” Cantwell said. WCPO
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