Blackfoot woman arrested after allegedly pointing gun at CAL Ranch employees

BLACKFOOT – A 40-year-old woman was arrested Tuesday after witnesses say she pointed a gun at them inside of a CAL Ranch store.

Cynthia Zemp is charged with two counts of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one felony enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon in commission of a felony.

On Tuesday around 8:30 p.m., officers with the Blackfoot Police Department were called to CAL Ranch at 250 North Meridian Street after a report of a possible robbery.

When they arrived, they spoke with the store supervisor, who showed them video footage of the incident.

According to court documents, the footage shows Zemp purchasing items at the cash register. She went to leave the store, but the theft alarm reportedly went off when she tried to walk through the door.

Two employees walked up to Zemp to confront her, and asked her “if she was hiding something.”

According to the police report, Zemp pulled a gun out of her waistband and “waived it around, pointing the muzzle of the gun at several employees.”

Zemp then left the store after a short argument with the employees.

When officers talked to the employees who were allegedly threatened, they described Zemp going through the theft detector and setting off the alarm, before becoming upset.

According to two of the employees, they both saw Zemp’s finger on the trigger of the gun. One of the employees said she “feared for her life and was scared that she might get shot.”

The supervisor told officers that Zemp had come into the store earlier to get her gun looked at because there was a bullet jammed in it.

An employee removed the bullet, gave it back, and Zemp began walking around the store.

Zemp was found soon after at an apartment in Blackfoot. When officers asked what happened, she said she went to CAL Ranch to get her gun unjammed.

She then stated she did not have a magazine for the gun when she went into the store and did not have any ammo for it.

Zemp told officers that she purchased some items, and when she tried to leave, the alarm went off, and the employees were “very rude, stating she was stealing.”

Zemp says she told the employees the alarm was going off because of her gun, and she pulled out the gun.

She told officers she was waving the gun around because “she was carrying a lot and trying not to drop her items,” according to court documents.

She gave officers consent to enter her home to look for the gun and they reportedly found a Taurus G3C .9mm pistol underneath her pillow in her bedroom.

Officers say the gun had a magazine loaded into it.

Zemp was arrested and booked into the Bingham County Jail. She was released on her own recognizance on Wednesday with the conditions that she have no contact with the victim, report to pre-trial release, and submit to drug and alcohol testing.

She is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Nov 16. If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison.

Though Zemp has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.