Woman with Gun Arrested at Wal-Mart; Officer Bitten
Posted by jhingarat21 on 14th Sep 2015
Wal-Mart scare
One woman is in custody and a Corsicana Police officer is being treated for a human bite after she tried to smash open a glass counter with a hammer and grabbed a knife from a nearby display.
Corsicana Police Chief Randy Bratton said the woman, identified only as a white female in her 30s, entered the store Friday afternoon attempting to buy .22 caliber ammunition in the store’s sporting goods section.
Bratton said the store clerk told the woman they did not have the ammunition she wanted, and the woman grabbed a hammer and tried — unsuccessfully — to smash open a display counter with it.
The clerk called for help, and when the hammer failed to break the glass, the woman then grabbed a packaged knife from a nearby display and was attempting to open the plastic case when she was apprehended by store personnel.
“The loss prevention personnel at Wal-Mart responded very quickly and restrained her,” Bratton said. As she was being restrained, a gun she was carrying fell to the ground, and employees shouted a warning that the woman had a gun and a knife.
Navarro College Police overheard the radio transmission reporting the incident and were first to arrive at the store, placing the woman in handcuffs until Corsicana Police took her into custody.
Bratton said investigators have learned that the woman obtained the gun earlier in the afternoon at a downtown pawn shop, reportedly paying for the gun but taking it and leaving the pawn shop before completing all the required paperwork.
After being taken into custody, the woman was transported to Navarro Regional Hospital for a medical examination before being sent to a Dallas hospital for further evaluation. It was while the woman was in the emergency room that the attack on the officer took place.
“While she was at the ER she bit one of the officers in the hand,” Bratton said. Officer Stan Eddington was the officer attacked, and was treated for the bite at the hospital, and may face additional treatment as a result of the bite.
Bratton said charges against the woman are pending, as the investigation into the incident continues. He praised the assistance of the Navarro College Police and store personnel in apprehending the woman before anyone was hurt.
A call to Wal-Mart’s corporate media relations department seeking comment on the incident was not returned by press time Friday.
