The man caught on video pointing a gun at multiple people inside an Ypsilanti Township restaurant during a melee earlier this year will serve nearly three years behind bars.
Ronjour Jacobs
Photo courtesy of WCSO
Ronjour Jacobs, 32, of Ann Arbor, was sentenced Monday to 10 months in the Washtenaw County Jail on one charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. Before serving that sentence, he will serve two years in prison on a charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Darlene O’Brien ruled.
Jacobs declined to speak before being sentenced Monday but his attorney, Leslie Knapp, said he recognized his behavior on the night of Jan. 11 was wrong.
“His behavior that night was egregious and it was unacceptable behavior,” Knapp said.
On the night of Jan. 11, Jacobs was at Luca’s Coney Island, 2469 Washtenaw Ave. in Ypsilanti Township, where a fight broke out between two different groups of customers and, near the end of the scuffle, Jacobs pulled out a handgun, according to deputies.
Video shows a man police said is Jacobs pointing the handgun in different directions. At one point, he puts the gun to the back of a man’s head for approximately five seconds. He then points the gun at the same man as he flees around the restaurant and then focusing on a woman who had been knocked to the ground. The video shows the man pointing the gun at the woman’s head for about five seconds.
Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Brenda Taylor provided O’Brien with still images from the video to show the horror on the victims’ faces.
“(The images) show the choices he made on the night of the incident were terrifying,” she said.
Restitution in the case must be determined within 90 days, O’Brien ruled.
The incident was the last straw for Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who asked Luca’s to close down between midnight and 5 a.m. every night. In the last four-and-a-half years, deputies were called to the then-24-hour restaurant 225 times.
Owner George Gsoskas said in February he volunteered to close the restaurant during the late night hours, when approximately 70 percent of the calls occurred.
"I did my best as a business owner to have security, but I don’t want to risk it," Gsokas told AnnArbor.com. "I am a very peaceful person and I don’t want bad things to happen, not just in the restaurant, but in the whole world. I want to have peace.
"I try my best to make sure to have no trouble, but people coming from bars, they're kind of drunk and it's hard to deal with them. I make this decision to voluntarily close on the third shift."
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.