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Suspect enters Wendy's drive-thru causing damage

For Immediate Release : Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
Release Number: 20-236

Date

Sunday August 2, 2020 11:00 PM

Location

Wendy's North 56th Street Tampa, FL
Suspect enters Wendy's drive-thru causing damage

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is requesting the public's assistance in locating a man who forced his way into a Wendy's drive-thru in Tampa causing damages.

On Sunday, August 2, 2020, at 11:00 p.m., a man, identified as Kelvin Barnes, 26, pulled up to the drive-thru window. An employee told deputies, Barnes, and his unidentified passengers, for some unknown reason became belligerent while placing their order. At one point, the driver exited the vehicle and approached the front of the store where he was met by an employee, who later told deputies Barnes threatened to start a physical fight. The suspect walked back to the drive-thru window and forced his upper body through. Surveillance video captured Barnes throwing straws and cups off of the counter and onto the floor, and grabbing the cash drawer, which he dropped as employees raced toward him. Barnes managed to get back into his gray 2020 Nissan Maxima with Tennessee license plate: 2V72W7.

"We have clear surveillance video of this suspect and are asking everyone to take a good look and call us if they know where Kelvin Barnes is hiding," said Sheriff Chad Chronister. "He didn't get away with any money, but the damage and hostility this restaurant and its employees faced is unacceptable and we will make sure Barnes learns his lesson."

Deputies discovered Barnes was driving a rental car and the rental company is in the process of filing a failure-to-return report with the Tampa International Airport Police Department. Barnes has a Georgia driver's license and has no known local address.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at (813) 247-8200.