Robber pulled trigger twice – but gun didn’t fire

An Antioch man received an unwanted and almost deadly surprise last week when he pulled into his driveway.

A man armed with a gun pointed it at Eric Gilbert — and pulled the trigger — at his home on the 4500 block of Pampas Circle near Jack London Elementary School, but the gun didn’t fire.

The incident started when Gilbert stopped his truck in the driveway and the suspect, wearing a bandana and a hooded sweatshirt walked up to him with a handgun in plain sight.

Gilbert says he handed the suspect his wallet, but the assailant proceeded to pull the trigger anyway. When the attack failed, he squeezed again before Gilbert ran into his house and called 911.

The incident was caught on a security camera installed outside Gilbert’s home. He said that the alleged mugger might have been following him home in a white Honda Accord.

Sgt. Steve Bias told the CoCo Times that police are actively investigating:

“We have regular strong-arm and armed robberies on a weekly, almost daily basis. But there’s no telling where this type of thing’s going to happen: there’s no trend in this neighborhood, and I can’t say there’s a trend of people coming home being robbed at gunpoint in the middle of the night.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Rob Green at 925-779-6932.