THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410260463
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Luck was with a Newport News woman when a man stuck a gun to her head outside a convenience store over the weekend and pulled the trigger - four times.
The gun misfired each time.
Her assailant was in jail Tuesday in Suffolk facing multiple charges.
According to Smithfield police reports and Smithfield Police Officer Scott Holt, this is what happened:
Patrina A. Martin, 28, and her boyfriend were driving south on Virginia Route 10 on their way to Smithfield in his pickup truck Sunday when she noticed her former boyfriend following them.
Martin told police that Jeffery A. Robinson, 32, the former boyfriend, had assaulted her the night before at her Newport News residence. Because Robinson was living in Smithfield, Martin told Officer Holt, she was going to Smithfield to have him arrested.
After the two spotted Robinson following them, they pulled into the Smithfield Quick Stop on West Main Street to call police, Holt said. Martin's current boyfriend, Cornelius Cruise, 48, of Hampton, got out of his truck to use a pay phone.
Martin remained in the pickup. It was about 2:15 p.m., she said - and suddenly she realized Robinson had approached the side of the truck armed with what police later said was a .38 caliber handgun, pointed it at the side of her head and pulled the trigger - three times.
Martin said that after the misfires, Robinson walked back to his car, fiddled with the pistol, then pointed it at Martin - and pulled the trigger again.
``The gun still wouldn't fire,'' Holt said.
Robinson then got a baseball bat from his car, Holt said, walked to the truck and shattered the passenger-side window, where Martin was sitting, sending glass into her face and eyes.
Holt said that when Cruise returned from the telephone, he got a wooden stick from his truck and the two men fought.
``Wood chips from Cruise's stick were scattered 50 feet in any direction in the parking lot,'' Holt said.
When police arrived, Cruise had taken away Robinson's baseball bat, and Robinson was ``fiddling'' with the gun again, Holt said.
Robinson was charged with one count of attempted murder, three counts of assault and battery, one count of destroying private property and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
He was being held without bail at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk, Holt said.
Cruise was charged with one count of assault and battery, police said, and was free after posting bond.
Martin was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
KEYWORDS: ASSUALT SHOOTING by CNB