Back in late May, Rockport tattoo artist Ike Kievit posted this on his Facebook wall:
im spent and at my wits end if you know me and are up for a good fistfight tonite with no grudge reguardless of outcome please call me, i dare any one im in rockport 361-XXX-XXXX some one come fight with me. im serious. ill even box more than one at a time. someone roun here has gotta wanna box? any one? bring a friend.try me.
Apparently he got no takers from among his friends, because five months later he picked a fight with some strangers -- yes, more than one at a time. And it appears that Kievit vastly overestimated his combat skills, even though he shaded the odds in his favor by arming himself with a knife.
On Saturday, October 15, Kievit decked himself head-to-toe in black, including a ski mask and a hoodie. According to a police report, at 6 a.m. he strode into the town's landmark Rockport Bakery and allegedly grabbed local fishing guide Kenneth Smith around the neck with one arm and jabbed a knife into his back with the other. He then told Patrick Garza, son of the bakery's owner, to open the cash register.
Instead, Garza went back to the kitchen in search of something to even the odds. Not seeing the kind of cooperation he perhaps envisioned, Kievit released Smith, snatched the cash register and tried to flee, but was foiled when the cord reached the end of its length. The register slipped from his hands and crashed to the floor.
As badly awry as Kievit's attempted heist was already, it was about to get much worse.
When Kievit attempted to grab the register off the floor, Garza emerged from the kitchen, fury in his eyes and a heavy steel mixing bowl in his hands. DONG! Down went Kievit. A second customer piled on, battering Kievit with a ladder while he lay on the floor.
Two 911 calls soon went out. The first reported the attempted robbery and the caller stated that the would-be robber had been subdued. Moments later a second came in. In this one, the caller said that they better send an ambulance too, because, apparently, Kievit -- that tattooed tough guy -- didn't look so good.
Kievit was treated and released from an area hospital. From there he was taken to the Aransas County Detention Center where he is being held on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated robbery. Bond has been set at a whopping $999,000.
He has previous convictions for domestic violence, theft by check, and injury to a child/elderly/disabled person, the last of which netted him a five-year sentence back in 2002.
