SANFORD, Fla. — Employees at Wolfy's in Sanford made the city's police officers guests of honor Thursday as a way of saying "thank you" for quickly capturing two men accused of trying to rob the restaurant and stabbing a manager.
The two men were arrested Monday evening.
Alfredo Jackson Rivas, 33, and Guy Junior Hughes, 47, were accused of approaching Larry "Pic" Picardat shortly before 7:30 a.m. Sunday at Wolfy's on Lake Monroe near North Palmetto Avenue and East Seminole Boulevard, Sanford police spokesman Ronny Neal said.
Investigators said one of the men ordered Picardat to open the restaurant’s safe at gunpoint, but he refused to do so. Picardat told detectives that he thought the gun was fake.
[ Manager of Sanford restaurant stabbed multiple times during robbery, police say ]
Police said that while Picardat wrestled the gunman, the other suspect stabbed him 10 times -- in the neck, the lower midsection and the leg.
Picardat called 911 for help after he was stabbed.
He was taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital, where he continues to recover.
Customers described Picardat as a nice and hardworking man.
"We have a lot of our group coming out tonight to help support Larry," his friend Scott Mickens said Thursday. "We support his family. Anything he needs, we're there for him."
Thursday's event was a fundraiser for the Sanford Police Department's traditional Sunday barbeque, where off-duty officers cook for officers working the street.
While the department was being honored Thursday for their work, Chief Cecil Smith gave a lot of the credit back to the community.
"They realized that something terrible happened here, and they were actively helping us to find these individuals," Smith said.