Lunch patrons got a scare at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Costa Mesa Saturday after two women rushed into the restaurant and started smashing it with a bat.
Police were called to the restaurant in the 3300 block of Bristol Street about 1:30 p.m. after the women showed up and began wrecking it.
The women were described as swinging wildly. Glass shattered. Patrons fled.
Robert Christiansen, 58, of Lake Forest was having lunch with his wife, Kim, when they heard the sound of crashing in the bar area near the front entrance, he said. The restaurant was packed.
“We thought immediately that something had collapsed in the bar because they stack (the shelves) with bottles and they have mirrors behind them,” Christiansen said.
But when it happened again and again, they knew something was wrong.
Christiansen looked over and saw the two women, each swinging a baseball bat in the bar. The women had the hoods of their sweatshirts pulled tight in an effort to conceal their faces, but Christiansen said the tactic didn’t work well.
He told his wife they needed to get out.
“Panic hit the place,” he said. “Personally, this was one step from them having a gun and going off in the place. This person was completely unhinged, just lost it.”
At one point they heard one of the women scream, “I’m not good enough? Take that,” Christiansen said.
The women weren’t through after smashing the bar. They then turned their attention to glass barriers, computer systems and tables, Christiansen said.
“There was glass everywhere,” he said.
A small fire started in the bar, though it wasn’t known if it was intentionally set or a by-product of the destruction. Staff members immediately put it out, Christiansen said.
Families got up from their tables and bolted toward the exits. Maggiano’s staff members ushered people to safety and checked on them once outside, he said.
“They were amazing, they took care of everybody and got them outside quickly,” he said.
Eventually, the two women fled on foot across the parking lot but were arrested when police caught up with them in the women’s vehicle, said Roxi Fyad, spokeswoman for the Costa Mesa Police Department.
One of the women was later identified as Passion Shenay Coleman, 27, of Fullerton, a former employee of the restaurant and known to staff. Before allegedly wielding a bat, Coleman had been at the restaurant several hours earlier. Police said at around 11:40 a.m., she had made criminal threats and threw a plate at a restaurant employee. By the time officers responded to take a report, she had left.
Police identified the second woman in the incident as Laglennda Damona Carr, 24, also of Fullerton.
Coleman had cuts on her hands related to the bat incident and was transported to a local hospital, officials said.
Both women were eventually booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, vandalism, burglary, and conspiracy to commit crimes.
Carr’s bail was set at $25,000 while Coleman, who also had a misdemeanor warrant for a suspended license, was held on $500,000 bail.
“The whole staff knew who they were,” Christiansen said,
“This was bad,” he said. “Lots of people were so scared. To see them that scared was terrifying.”
Staff writer Jonah Valdez contributed to this story.
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