When a knife-wielding robber demanded his money and cell phone, Deryns Giraldo-Villacis, a Fort Carson soldier, simply refused.

Not only did he refuse, Giraldo-Villacis fought back, first throwing a punch and then pulling out a handgun from the saddlebag of his motorcycle, according to a sheriff’s report of the attempted robbery last month in unincorporated El Paso County.

The story of the attempted robbery generated widespread interest and praise for concealed carry permits because Giraldo-Villacis defended himself with a gun. The story has been shared on Facebook a whopping 6,150 times.

The story was first reported on gazettedev.gazette.com July 18.

But in an effort to locate the victim, the newspaper requested the report of the incident from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, which initially denied the request but eventually coughed it up under the Colorado Open Records Act.

I tracked Giraldo-Villacis down through Facebook. Giraldo-Villacis confirmed he was the victim and said he was interested in sharing his story but that he had to “clear it with work first.”

“Can you tell me some of the things you’d like to ask? I need it to inform my chain of command,” he said.

I told him I just wanted him to describe what happened. Despite repeated efforts, though, Giraldo-Villacis never responded to the interview request.

The report of the incident, however, sheds more light about what happened.

It started when Giraldo-Villacis, who was riding a motorcycle and starting to feel cold, pulled over in the 3800 block of Marksheffel Road about 6:30 p.m. July 17 to put on another shirt he keeps in his saddlebag.

“He said a flat black Honda Civic stopped behind his motorcycle and two white males got out of the passenger side and began to approach,” the report states.

One of the men was armed with a “fishing knife” between 4 and 7 inches long in his right hand. The other man, who was not armed, stayed back and seemed more like backup, the report states.

The armed robber told Giraldo-Villacis “to give him money and his cell phone,” the report states.

Giraldo-Villacis “said he had no plans to give (the robber) what he wanted.”

Giraldo-Villacis took a swing at the robber with a closed fist. The robber dipped his head, but Giraldo-Villacis still managed to land a punch to the robber’s forehead, the report states.

Giraldo-Villacis had an ornamental ring on his ring finger and said the robber might have a mark on his forehead from the ring.

After punching the robber, Giraldo-Villacis went for backup of his own – a Springfield XD 40 handgun, which he drew from his saddleback. The sheriff’s office described the weapon as a .40-caliber subcompact handgun.

After drawing the gun, “both suspects returned to the car and the car sped away.”

The driver of the car also was described as white male between 19 and 20 years old.

Giraldo-Villacis said “the only distinguishing features he could remember of the vehicle was that it was flat black, like it had been spray painted, and it had faded and bubbled dark window tinting that appeared purple. He did not remember to note the vehicle’s license plate,” the report states.