Cops: Armed Robber Attacks Deputies

Wilbur Yates was at the bus stop on Sheldon Road and Grosse Pointe Boulevard in Town ‘N Country around 4:50 p.m. April 22 when Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies say he was held up at gunpoint.

Thinking fast, Yates flagged down a deputy that drove by shortly after the attack. With the armed man still in sight, fleeing on a bicycle, Deputy Felix Moret gave chase.

When Moret caught up with the man, however, bringing him into custody for the armed robbery wasn’t easy – the man fought back, the sheriff’s office said in a media release.

“The suspect tried to gouge Deputy Moret's eyes out with his thumbs,” wrote Cristal Bermudez Nunez, sheriff’s office spokeswoman, in the release. “Deputy Dave Burney arrived as backup and also tried to place the suspect into handcuffs, but the suspect continued to struggle and resist. Both deputies used their tasers and were able to take the suspect into custody.”

Upon searching the man, deputies found a Colt .32 caliber revolver with a bullet still in the chamber.

Moret, an 18-year sheriff’s office veteran, was transferred to Florida Hospital to be treated and has since been released. Burney, a 16-year veteran, was cut and scraped during the incident, but did not require medical attention.

Lamont Graddy, 21, was being held in the Hillsborough County Jail April 23 without bond. He faces armed robbery, resisting arrest with violence, battery on a law enforcement officer, carrying a concealed firearm and felon in possession of a firearm charges.

Graddy, of 7716 Rock Palm Ave., has been arrested in the past on charges ranging from armed burglary to grand theft motor vehicle, according to jail records.