Woman smashed in face with gun in robbery attempt

A Cape Girardeau restaurant owner was smashed in the face with a gun during a robbery attempt Monday night, just before she managed to escape out the front door and to the safety of a busy Broadway.

Zoi Mousadakos, 46, is one of the owners of the family-operated Dave's Bar-B-Que at 1865 Broadway. She told police that when she was taking the trash out at about 9:30 p.m. Monday, she was confronted by a man with a gun.

"He said he wanted money and then he punched her in the face with the gun," said Cape Girardeau patrolman Jason Selzer. "Then she acted like she was going to get the money and she ran out the front door."

There, Selzer said, she got a ride from a driver on Broadway who took her to a hospital where she was treated and released. She had been alone in the restaurant and in the process of closing when the attack took place, Selzer said.

While Mousadakos didn't want to talk to the media, her son Louie Mousadakos, who also works at Dave's Bar-B-Que, said his mother required several stitches near her eyebrow, in an area that was split open by the gun.

"She told him she'd get the money and that he didn't need the gun," he said. "But he hit her anyway. She's pretty shaken up. But she's going to be OK."

No money was taken. Mousadakos said apparently the culprit was scared when Zoi Mousadakos ran out the door. Louie Mousadakos said the thief apparently never went to the front of the restaurant where there was some money in plain sight.

Description of suspect

Police said they are investigating the matter and don't know how likely it will be to catch the man that Mousadakos described as a thin, white man who stands about 6 feet tall with brownish-blond hair.

But Louie Mousadakos said the attack on his mother came less than three weeks after Dave's Bar-B-Que was robbed of a money bag that had between $1,500 and $2,000.

"It's weird," Louie Mousadakos said. "This is all happening at once. You figure it's a pretty decent, safe spot. We've been operating this place going on eight years and nothing like this has happened until now."

In the robbery three weeks ago, some people came in and asked to use the phone, Louie Mousadakos said. While they were behind the counter, they grabbed a money bag that was on a lower shelf and ran.

Mousadakos said his mother told him the man from Monday night was not among the men who robbed them in February.

"But we don't know if they maybe had something to do with them," he said. "Maybe they sent this guy to come back for the second money bag."

While the Mousadakos family isn't thinking of closing the restaurant, they are beefing up security.

"We're not leaving, we're going to be fine," Louie Mousadakos said. "We're just going to step up some safety precautions. We've got cameras coming in, things like that. We don't want this to happen again."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137