PAYSON, Utah, Aug. 27, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A Payson man has been booked into the Utah County jail after reports he tried to stab people in the parking lot of a Walmart.
The call came in at about 9:34 p.m., and officers responded to 1052 S. Turf Farm Road. Walmart employees said the suspect, later identified as 21-year-old Edgar Medina-Perez, had taken beer and left the store without paying.
Walmart employees reportedly followed the suspect, “heard glass breaking and saw Edgar standing on the East side of the building in front of customers’ vehicles,” the probable cause statement for Medina-Perez says.
“Employees saw Edgar drinking from one of the glass beer bottles he had stolen. Employees said they told Edgar he needed to leave the property. Employees said Edgar threw the glass beer bottle at the employees.”
Employees said two male customers approached the suspect, who grabbed another glass beer bottle, then struck it against a wall, “breaking the bottom portion, leaving a sharp jagged glass edge, which he held in his hand like a knife.
“Employees said Edgar used the sharp broken glass bottle as a weapon, ‘moving the bottle in a thrusting stabbing gesture’ while stating he was going to enjoy killing the employees, and if they called the cops, he was going to kill them, too.”
The suspect then took the remaining stolen beer and fled on foot, the police statement says.
“Officers located Edgar sitting in a small cluster of trees on the south side of Walmart. Edgar had the case of beer next to him and was drinking beer from one of the bottles.”
Officers identified themselves as police, and ordered Medina-Perez to “show his empty hands and lay flat on his stomach.”
The suspect refused and responded by yelling and swearing at officers,” says the statement, filed by an officer of the Payson Police Department.
Medina-Perez began to comply, then stopped, cursing at officers, the affidavit says. The suspect began to get up, and officers used first a pepper ball gun, then a Taser.
Officers cuffed Medina-Perez and sat him up, arresting documents say, and “Edgar immediately spit at a Deputy who was standing in front of him.”
After being medically cleared at a local hospital, Medina-Perez was booked into jail on suspicion of:
- Four counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
- Obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony
- Retail theft a class B misdemeanor
- Propelling a bodily substances, a class B misdemeanor
- Intoxication, a class C misdemeanor
- Disorderly conduct, an infraction
