Patrons fled from a Cranberry Township bar in the early hours of Saturday, after one patron pointed a gun at another’s head, according to witnesses and charges filed by police.

“A couple people yelled get down, ‘He’s got a gun,’” said a patron in an interview Monday. “Everybody dove behind the bar.”

According to charging documents, police responded at 1:42 a.m. to Cenci’s Pizzeria and Bar, where they found staff in possession of a 9 mm pistol that had been taken by force from its owner, Thomas Huffman Jr., 49, of Cranberry Township.

“(Staff) reported that they had taken possession of the pistol, unloaded it and secured it inside the manager’s safe,” police said in the affidavit. The manager told police he took possession of the pistol and found a loaded round in the chamber and a fully loaded magazine.

Police arrested Huffman at the scene and filed charges later Saturday, including felony counts of aggravated assault and terroristic threats, as well as misdemeanor counts of simple assault and disorderly conduct.

Following arraignment by District Judge Kevin Flaherty, Huffman was placed in Butler County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bond.

Police said through investigation, they discovered Huffman was involved in an argument with three other patrons, two men and a woman, regarding issues of race. Huffman is white and the two men he was arguing with are Black, police said.

Police said one of the men involved in the argument “later bought Huffman Jr. a drink as a friendly gesture after an argumentative debate.”

Police said Huffman and those he argued with continued drinking in close proximity to one another, until Huffman took issue with one of the men’s treatment of the woman, who was identified as the man’s girlfriend.

“(The man) told Huffman that it was his girlfriend and told him to shut up,” police said. “(The man) then stated that Huffman suddenly unholstered a black pistol and pointed it directly at his head with the barrel of the pistol pointed extremely close to the side of his head.”

The patron interviewed Monday said at one point he looked over at the commotion.

“I saw a dude raise his arm in the air,” the patron said. “The guy next to him grabbed his arm.”

The patron said in that moment, there was the alert about the gun, and almost instinctively people moved behind the circular shaped bar, but only briefly.

“When they were wrestling, it gave us time to get out of there,“ the patron said. ”Looking back at it, it was pretty scary.“

According to police, the man held at gunpoint reacted quickly and grabbed at the gun held in the hand of Huffman, who is estimated to be 6’7“ tall and weigh about 370 pounds.

"(The man held at gunpoint) stated that several other customers who witnessed the incident assisted him,“ police said.

Police said the man’s story matched statements given by the two people he was with, and it appeared to align with surveillance videos officers viewed of the incident.

Huffman is scheduled to appear Aug. 5 for a preliminary hearing before Flaherty.

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