Bartender Held Hour at Gunpoint

By Ramon Geremia

staff Reporter

It's too bad no one thought of bending the bartender's ear at the Palo Alto Tavern in Bladensburg the other night. They'd have heard quite a story.

Someone had been holding a gun on him for more than an hour and none of the customers knew anything about it.

The bartender, John F. Ellis, 37, of the Parkview Apartments in East Riverdale, said a man walked into the tavern on Baltimore ave. Saturday about 7:30 p.m., sat down at the bar and told him, “I've got a gun on you. If you don't do everything I tell you, I'll blow your head off.”

Ellis wasn't about to argue, especially when the man put a .32 caliber revolver on the bar and showed him a full box of ammunition.

Wanted No Money

“He told me he didn't want any money,” said Ellis, “he just wanted me to do whatever he ordered. He just sat there alone at the bar for more than an hour with that gun right there.”

Ellis said that during the hour the man held the gun on him he talked about how well he knew how to use it and the number of people he had killed in Korea and occasionally repeated that Ellis was to do everything he was told.

Ellis said there were several customers at tables who didn't know what was going on. “Every time one of them would walk up to the bar he'd just move his arm over the top of the gun and his jacket would cover it.” The man finally left and police were called.

Bladensburg Police Private James L. Wines said he was notified about 8:35, got a description of the man who was believed to be named Flynt, and began looking for him.

Stops at Liquor Store

About 9 p.m. Wines was driving by Greer's Liquor Store on Annapolis rd. in Bladensburg when he looked in and spotted a man who answered the description.

He unbuttoned his coat as he walked in and loosened his service revolver in its holster, then walked up to the man and asked him to see some identification.

The man took out his wallet and identified himself as William Joseph Flynt, 31, of 4515 Burlington rd., Hyattsville.

Wines handed back the wallet, turned as though he were leaving. then whipped out his pistol, held it against Flynt's chin and told him to raise his hands slowly.

A .32 caliber pistol was found tucked in the belt under Flynt's jacket, said Wines, and a full box of ammunition in a jacket pocket.

Flynt, the father of four children, was arrested, charged with one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one of carrying a deadly weapon and held under $1500 bond pending court appearance Feb. 4.