An Ocala man accused of pulling an assault rifle on another man at a Waffle House restaurant was arrested late Sunday morning.
When deputies arrived at the eatery, located at 2065 SW Hwy. 484 in Ocala, a man told them that he and two women were eating breakfast when 24-year-old Anthony Armando Head entered the Waffle House and then quickly exited the building.
The man said they finished eating and when they went outside, they saw Head’s white Dodge Challenger parked behind the restaurant. The man said Head exited his vehicle and approached him while advising, “We’re going to fight right now,” a sheriff’s office report states.
The man said he told Head, “Let’s not do this.” He said Head “then assumed an aggressive stance and began to strike” him in the face multiple times with a closed fist. The man said he then punched Head in the face “approximately two times” in self-defense, which resulted in him retreating to his vehicle, the report says.
The man said Head then pulled a tan AR-15-style assault rifle from his the trunk of his car and aimed it at his chest while saying, “I am going to kill you.” The man said he “was in fear for his life” and believed Head was going to shoot him, the report says, adding that a Waffle House employee removed the rifle from Head’s hands and threw it back into the trunk of his car.
But Head pulled the rifle out again and started waving it in the air. And he again threatened to kill the man before getting back into his vehicle and driving away, the report says.
A witness who was at the Waffle House said she saw Head pointing the gun and threatening to kill the man, who had a bruise under his left eye and an abrasion on his forehead. And the two women eating breakfast with the man corroborated the story, the report says.
Head was located a short time later at his residence at 37 Juniper Pass Dr., No. 103. He told the deputy, “I plead the Fifth” and wanted to invoke his rights. He was then transported to the Marion County Jail and charged assault with intent to commit a felony and battery. He was released early Tuesday morning on $6,000 bond and is due in a Marion County courtroom Jan. 8 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.