Soulard business owner threatened by man with gun
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - An incident outside a popular Soulard restaurant started with a man jumping out of a car to kick a bike and ended with the man holding a gun and making threats.
Angie Swyers was simply trying to run Mauki’s Bakery and Country Store on Friday afternoon when an altercation between a customer and two others forced her outside to try and break it up.
“Okay this is getting too much so I went out there myself,” said Swyers.
From the surveillance video outside Mauki’s, a man parked his bike and walked into Mauki’s Bakery and Country Store. Then a car pulls up and a man kicks the bike down and you can see the customer run back outside, exchange words and quickly leave. But the man and the female driver don’t leave, instead they stay and argue with others, and one picture indicates he was holding a long gun or rifle.
“They really weren’t listening to me, they were screaming at me and calling me names as well,” said Swyers.
“He said he would come back and kill us, those are his words.”
Swyers said that night the woman in the video called her and apologized and she told Swyers they were upset because they were called the “N” word.
After being threatened, Swyers is keeping an extra eye out but doesn’t appear too worried at this point.
“I think they’re trying to hide at this point, I mean we worry about that every day pretty much,” said Swyers.
She said this isn’t the first time she’s seen people brandish guns in Soulard and doesn’t think it’ll be the last. While crime stats indicate a drop in both violent and property crimes in Soulard over the past year, it doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s getting better to Swyers.
“I moved down here three years ago and felt safe, and now three years later I don’t feel as safe,” said Swyers.
First Alert 4 has reached out to St. Louis Metropolitan Police for any information on an investigation and we have not heard back.
Nadine Soaib, owner of Nadine’s Hash House, right outside of Soulard, tells First Alert 4 over the phone due to constant crime issues she’s considering not renewing her lease next year.
Swyers said she’s actively looking to move her business out of Soulard, but not due to crime, she is seeking to expand her business to a bigger building in the city.
“We’re not giving up on the city,” said Swyers.
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