Baker Banishes Bandit

When a man with a gun burst into Rocco’s Bakery looking for cash, Antonio DiBenedetto had news for the would-be robber: He had a gun, too.

Here’s what happened, according to police spokesman Officer Dave Hartman:

Police responded to a silent panic alarm from the bakery on Thursday at an unspecified time. Officer Edwin De Jesus pulled up to the bakery at 432 Ferry St. in Fair Haven. Co-owner Anna DiBenedetto told the officer that she had been arranging cakes in the shop window when, according to Hartman, ​“a masked and gloved man charged in. He had a hand in his coat pocket and announced he had a gun. He demanded money, and Anna nervously walked to the counter.”

As she walked to the counter, she alerted her husband, Antonio, who ​“confronted the masked man.”

“The intruder again demanded money and told Antonio he had a gun,” Hartman wrote. ​“Antonio said he had one as well.” The intruder fled in a black coat and burgundy sweat pants.

In other police news:

Robbery A man was stabbed in an apparent street robbery near 549 Ferry St. around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Break-in Someone broke into the Finesse Barber & Beauty Salon at 186 Grand Ave. overnight Wednesday. Officer Jeffrey King responded to a call at that address at 3 a.m. Thursday. The owner met King at the salon and opened her shop. ​“There were two concrete blocks inside, presumed used to break the window. The cash register was gone.”

Officers Christopher Elliot and Michael Pepe found the register ​“minutes later” on Bright Street. ​“There had been no money left in it to begin with, and it was taken for forensic evaluation and processing” and police headquarters.