Armed robber takes $5 from vet, beats woman with knife

DESTIN — A man was charged with robbery with a deadly weapon after demanding $5 from a veteran, according to an arrest report from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Eddie Jimenez-Martinez, 21, knocked on the side door of the Destin Am Vets Lounge, 106 Benning Drive, at 3:10 a.m. on Jan. 17. When the private secured door was opened, he pulled out a firearm and demanded $5, the report said.

When the veteran told the armed man he had no money, Jimenez-Martinez pulled out a knife and followed him into the lounge. The veteran got $5 from a fellow patron. Jimenez-Martinez took the cash and left.

Jimenez-Martinez, a resident of Destin, was connected to the crime when he was arrested two hours later for an unrelated armed robbery. At the time of the arrest, he had a black BB gun and a knife.

Jimenez-Martinez was questioned through an interpreter at the sheriff’s office on Jan. 21. He confessed to the robbery. He also confessed to an attempted robbery at a Spring Lake Drive home.

At around 4 a.m. on Jan. 8, Jimenez-Martinez knocked on the front door of the Destin home. When a woman answered, he asked to speak to someone named Manny. The woman told him no one by that name lived there and shut the door.

Jimenez-Martinez knocked again and asked for Manny when the woman opened the door. She repeated her answer and shut the door.

A few minutes later, the woman heard scratching at her front door and thought it was her dog. When she opened the door, she found Jimenez-Martinez, the report said.

Jimenez-Martinez forced his way into the home and hit the victim with an unknown black object. A struggle ensued and the woman began screaming, the report said. The woman’s niece came to her rescue and helped fend off the attack. During the struggle, the woman was able to pull off Jimenez-Martinez’s sweat shirt before he ran away.

The staff who treated the woman at Sacred Heart Hospital told the deputy she had cuts on her face that were deep enough to reach her facial bones.

During his confession, Jimenez-Martinez said he had planned to rob the woman for money to buy alcohol, the arrest report said.

He admitted to pushing his way in and repeatedly hitting the woman with a pocket knife. “(Jimenez-Martinez) said his first thought was to stab the woman but he decided to just hit her,” the report said.

Jimenez-Martinez was charged with first degree burglary with assault and second degree aggravated battery. He will be in court May 3 for his jury trial.