Deputies: Man With Fillet Knife Attacks Bartender, Injures 3 More

An intoxicated man wielding a fillet knife attacked a bartender and injured three customers Sunday night at an Indian Rocks Beach bar, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

James Klingbeil, 50, of Belleair Beach, had been turned away at the Red Lion Pub, 1407 Gulf Blvd., earlier in the evening because he was already "highly intoxicated," deputies said.

After getting into an argument with the staff, according to a sheriff's report, Klingbeil went to a grocery store a few blocks away and bought a fillet knife. He then came back to the bar, where he got into an altercation with 32-year-old bartender Rebecca Shaeffer, at some point pulling out the knife and attacking her with it, deputies said.

Three bar patrons then attempted to help Schaeffer, getting injured in the process and eventually taking Klingbeil to the ground and taking away his knife, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies arrived around 11:11 p.m. to find the men holding Klingbeil down.

Schaeffer, of Indian Rocks Beach, suffered multiple lacerations and was airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, authorities said. 

Bar patron Nicholaus Rees, 35, of Largo, suffered a laceration to his right forearm, authorities said; his brother Gordon Rees, 44, of Largo, had been punched in the face. Michael Arnold, 26, of Clearwater, suffered a laceration to his hand.

Klingbeil is charged with attempted murder, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of battery. He was taken to Pinellas County Jail without further incident, authorities said, and was being held on $160,000 bond.

Klingbeil has been arrested before, online records show, on charges ranging from DUI to child neglect to misuse of the 911 system.

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