Hatchet-bearing man claiming to be Jesus arrested for Placerville burglary, police say
An alleged burglar who identified himself as Jesus and smashed up a Placerville sporting goods store with a hatchet was arrested this week, police said.
Officers responded around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday to an alarm triggering at the Big 5 Sporting Goods store on Placerville Drive. The alarm company “reported multiple glass breaks and a male subject on the phone inside the store claiming to be Jesus Christ,” the Placerville Police Department said Thursday in a news release.
Police arrived at the scene to find a hooded man outside the front of the business, where a white Subaru had been used to ram the front door and gain entry, according to the news release. The suspect then retreated inside the Subaru and closed the door, but officers quickly got him out and took him into custody.
The man, identified by police as Blake Thacker, 32, of Georgetown, was arrested and booked into the El Dorado County jail for commercial burglary.
Store surveillance video showed Thacker driving his Subaru through the doors, gaining entry and using a hatchet to smash glass display counters, according to the Police Department.
“Thacker ransacked the store in what appeared to be random acts of vandalism,” the news release said.
Police say the burglary appeared to be related to an earlier incident handled by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office on Monday evening, in which a man associated with the Subaru had been “banging on the doors at Walmart on Missouri Flat Road,” reportedly “demanding a firearm to kill someone.”
Thacker remains in custody at the jail for the burglary charge, with bail set at $10,000.
Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to contact the Placerville Police Department at 530-642-5210.
