Raley’s employees subdue man after hatchet attack at California supermarket, police say
A man accused of striking an employee at a Northern California supermarket with a hatchet and smashing the windows of a vehicle in the parking lot Sunday morning was arrested after being subdued by other employees, police said.
Officers responded to 911 calls shortly after 6:30 a.m. reporting that a man had “smashed windows of an occupied vehicle” in the parking lot of the Raley’s store on West Onstott Frontage Road using a hatchet, the Yuba City Police Department said in a news release.
The suspect, identified as 44-year-old Larry Reed of Olivehurst, then walked back to the parking lot and confronted a Raley’s employee who had just arrived, police said.
Reed allegedly struck the employee in the leg with the hatchet. The employee tried to flee into the store, but Reed chased him, according to the release.
Once inside, a different employee “grabbed Mr. Reed by his sweatshirt and struck him with a product scanner in an effort to subdue him,” police wrote.
Two Raley’s employees detained Reed until Yuba City police arrived and took him into custody, according to the news release.
Reed was taken to a hospital, then discharged and booked into the Sutter County Jail on charges including suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, felony vandalism, possession of a dirk or dagger and methamphetamine possession. He remained in custody at the jail as of midday Monday, booking records showed.
The employee’s leg injury was not life-threatening, police said, and no one was injured inside the vehicle that had its windows smashed.
Reed did not appear to know any of the victims, police said, and the motive for Sunday’s incident was not clear.
