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Paparazzi descend on Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez at Ferg's in St. Petersburg

 
Published March 12, 2012

ST. PETERSBURG — Leave it to Bieber to get Tampa Bay celebrity watchers and the online tab paparazzi all abuzz over the weekend.

Canadian singer Justin Bieber and girlfriend Selena Gomez, in town filming the movie Spring Breakers, and Bieber's grandparents ate dinner together at Ferg's Sports Bar and Grill on Sunday evening, according to owner Mark Ferguson.

It didn't start well.

At about 6:30 p.m., Biebs & Co. showed up to the restaurant unannounced. The managers cleared a back room for them.

They had just sat down and ordered sodas when it happened.

"All of the sudden all these guys with cameras came in and started taking pictures," Ferguson said. Bieber, 18, Gomez, 19, and the grandparents took off, he said.

"There was a lot of yelling and screaming, but they weren't fighting between each other," Ferguson said.

Police were not called about the incident.

After about 15 or 20 minutes, the stars and the grandparents came back, staying for about an hour. The paparazzi weren't allowed back inside the restaurant.

At some point, they were joined by Gomez's co-star Ashley Benson and her boyfriend Ryan Good.

Though Bieber's grandparents had drinks at the bar, the others did not, Ferguson said.

There was quite the spread of food.

They ordered corn fritters, cheese fries, beer battered fish and chips, a taco salad, pulled pork sliders, a basket of fries, a burger known as the "Major Leaguer," a dessert and two sodas, according to the restaurant.