The owner of Chatters at 104 Sage Commercial Drive fired a handgun in the air to deter a disorderly customer who threatened him and his patrons.

Police gave this account: The customer was intoxicated and began screaming at everyone in the establishment Saturday night. The owner called a cab for the customer and told him to leave, which led the man to scream more. He threw drinks on other customers and tried to instigate a fight numerous times with the owner. At that point, the owner went to his car and retrieved his handgun, for which he has a permit. The customer confronted the owner and threatened him again. Fearing for his safety, the owner fired one shot into the air. The customer then left in the cab. The cab driver and several patrons who witnessed the incident said the owner never pointed the gun at anyone and never threatened the customer.

Police later found the customer and charged him with disorderly conduct and issued a criminal trespass warning.

Man charged

in rape attempt

LaGrange police accused a man of beating and attempting to rape a victim in the 900 block of Mason Street at 11:40 a.m. Sunday. Ricky Swint, 57, of Render Street was charged with criminal attempt rape, battery and interfering with a 911 call.

Arson

LaGrange police said an arsonist caused a fire in a residence in the 1700 block of Whitesville Street. The owner of the residence, Michael Murphy, 52, reported the fire at 6:55 p.m. Sunday and said he suspected the blaze was caused by several vagrants who he has repeatedly told to leave his property in the past. Police said the residence suffered $10,000 damage.

Employee accused of theft

The manager of Wendy’s at 303 Vernon St. told police an employee was in the process of stealing items from the restaurants’s freezer and placing it in a Dumpster on Saturday afternoon. She also said the employee frequently gave free food to customers. Police found $150 worth of food concealed near an outside Dumpster and charged the employee with theft.

Burglaries, thefts

— A green 2005 Dodge Magnum valued at $8,000 was stolen from the parking lot of JR Food Mart at 1616 Whitesville St.

— A resident of the 400 block of Horace King Street said a burglar damaged a window of his residence and stole $725 of electronics, including two DVD players, DVDs and audio CDs.

— A thief stole two bicycles from the 600 block of Borton Street.

— A thief stole $400 worth of plumbing tools from a crawl space under a residence in the 200 block of Guinn Street.

— A LaGrange man said a thief broke into his truck in the parking lot of Cracker Barrel at 105 Hoffman Drive and stole $150, his $300 cell phone and a $60 purse.

Arrests

— Randall Owens, 24, of Simmons Street was charged with selling cocaine.

— Jonathan Heard, 21, whose address was unavailable, was charged with three counts of selling marijuana and two counts of selling cocaine.

— Antonio Headspeth, 21, of Burr Street was charged with robbery and party to a crime.

— Hogansville police charged Sims Brown, 32, of Marietta with robbery and possession of cocaine.

— Joey McClendon, 39, of Tatum Heights Drive was charged with possession of methamphetamine and eluding a police officer.

- It is the policy of LaGrange Daily News to print the names of people charged with felonies.