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A man suspected of assaulting a pedestrian and threatening him with a knife at Town & Country Village shopping center in Palo Alto was arrested on Friday afternoon, according to police.
Police received a report around 1:50 p.m. about a man brandishing a knife in the shopping center on 855 El Camino Real. A preliminary investigation revealed that he first verbally confronted another man in his 50s before allegedly pushing him in the back, according to a press release issued Monday. The two men were unacquainted with each other.
As the targeted pedestrian turned around, the man allegedly pulled out a pocket knife with its blade extended, began swinging it at him and threatened to physically harm him, police said. The armed man stopped when the pedestrian yelled for help.
Officers quickly arrived on the scene and took the knife-wielding man into custody without incident, according to police. The pedestrian did not suffer any injuries.
The armed man, a 57-year-old San Francisco resident, was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose on suspicion of two felony crimes: assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threats.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the department’s 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the police’s free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.
Editor’s note: The Weekly’s policy is to withhold the names of those arrested for most crimes until the District Attorney has determined there is sufficient evidence to file charges in the case. See our guidelines here.
3 take-aways from this:
#1- Obviously always try to stay alert of your surroundings.
#2- The knife-wielder seems to not be very skilled with a knife and/or was only using it to threaten (which it very often is). It’s really not difficult to cut/stab someone if you intend to and know just a little about how to use a knife.
#3- This is the big one. And in case you forgot, we had 3 incidents in this area within 2 weeks just before/after New Years almost a year ago where people were attacked and then all ended essentially the same way: The victim yelled.
I have been saying it for years, folks, to thousands of people I have taught self-defense to around the world: The voice is our second most powerful weapon for self-defense. Learn to use it.
Q: Is it legal here to stand your ground, or are we legally required to cower?
When seconds count. The police are only minutes away.
It says that police arrived quickly and arrested him. Sounds timely to me.