Olympia woman not fooled by fake gun, fights back against robber
OLYMPIA -- A man tried to pull what turned out to be a pellet gun on woman in downtown Olympia. When she wasn’t fooled, he’s the one who ended up running to police for help.
“I was mad,” says Kimberly Guajardo. “You just don’t get to do things like that to people.”
Most people would probably be scared or upset if someone pulled a gun on them, but not Guajardo.
Last night she stopped by the China Clipper bar downtown. She says when she stepped out to smoke, a young man approached her and asked her if she had an extra cigarette.
“I had left everything inside and just stepped outside. So I said no. He kept pushing, I said I really don’t.”
That’s when the young man pulled what appeared to be a gun.
“I knew it was fake as soon as he pulled it out, because I have a little boy,” she says. “Then I just got angry.”
Without thinking Guajardo grabbed the gun, threw it over a nearby fence, and started hitting the man.
“Then he ran down the street, crying and freaking out.”
22 year old Kevin Lesher ended up at the Olympia Police Department a few blocks away, where he was arrested for attempted robbery in the first degree. Guajardo says her friends can’t believe what she did.
“I probably didn’t react the way my dad would want me to. But I just reacted the way I did,” she says. “I live in Olympia and I go downtown a lot and it sucks. You can’t go to the bar and have a drink?”
Guajardo’s not the only one taking a stand against would-be criminals in the South Sound. This weekend, a Pizza Time employee in Lacey fought back during a robbery attempt. In that case, the gun was real and it did go off.
“I guess it hasn’t registered for me,” says Jordan Raudenbush, “that I could have gotten shot in the face.”
Guajardo knows she’s also lucky she wasn’t hurt. But she says she’s glad she got at least one criminal off the streets of Olympia.
“Hopefully I taught him a lesson.”
The Olympia Police Department released this statement: While we are very happy this incident turned out so well, we are always concerned when people act on their own in dangerous, unpredictable situations, especially those involving weapons. Our advice is to always call 911, if at all possible.