Fayetteville police are looking for a woman who approached a Home Depot employee with a machete, threatening to beat her up and drag her through the parking lot.
Officers on May 13 at approximately 1:45 p.m. were dispatched to the Home Depot store at the Fayette Pavilion on an assault call.
Police arrived and met with the complainant, a store employee, who said an unknown female approached her while she was driving a forklift and attempting to unload a mulch truck in the rear of Home Depot, said Fayetteville Police Department spokesperson Ann Marie Burdett.
The employee told police that the female subject operating a pickup truck attempted to drive past her while operating the forklift. The employee said she put her hand up to signal the woman to stop, but she kept driving, Burdett said of the police report.
The employee told officers the woman then approached her and threatened to beat her up. The employee told police a brief argument ensued between the two parties, Burdett added.
“The unknown female allegedly returned to her pickup truck and retrieved a machete. The complainant told police the subject allegedly returned and waved the machete in her face and threatened to beat her up and drag her through the parking lot,” Burdett noted.
The employee said truck drivers in the area tried to calm the irate woman down, Burdett said, adding that the employee said she drove the forklift away from the area and reported the incident to her manager.
Witnesses at the scene told police similar accounts that corroborated the employee’s statement, police said.
The case was turned over to the Fayetteville Criminal Investigative Division for further investigation.
In a separate Fayetteville case, police on the morning of May 13 were dispatched to the business on North Glynn Street on a domestic call.
The business owner told police she got into a verbal argument with her adult male son, and he followed her into her business and got physical with her, Burdett said of the police report.
The son was no longer on the scene when police arrived.
“The owner told police her son allegedly picked her up, slapped at her legs, and threatened to kill her and burn the business because she did not answer a question he had asked her,” said Burdett.
The business owner said she tried to call 911, but her son allegedly slapped her phone away from her. The complainant said she saw someone in the parking lot and walked out to call 911, Burdett said.
“The officer provided the complainant with information regarding how to obtain a Temporary Protective Order (TPO),” Burdett said. “The complainant did not wish to press criminal charges against the subject. However, she did wish to have a criminal trespass warning issued.”
Additionally, the owner did not want to press charges against her son for the damaged door to the business, Burdett added.
Burdett said the owner’s son was contacted to obtain his statement regarding what transpired and to have him return to the location to receive the criminal trespass warning, to which he agreed and did.
Police did not pursue any criminal charges against the son due to the conflicting testimonies regarding the alleged physical altercation, Burdett noted.
