An axe-wielding male allegedly threatened a pair of car-wash employees in Ocala, Florida, last week — but one of the victims managed to violently turn the tables on him.
Marion County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the Tidal Wave Auto Spa on SW 95th Street Road over a reported disturbance around 8:30 p.m. March 8, officials said.
‘I timed [it] so that once he lowered [the axe], that’s when I shot the takedown.’
Upon arrival, deputies said they found an 18-year-old victim restraining 36-year-old Bryce Thayer.
The investigation revealed that Thayer approached two employees at the car wash as they were closing, officials said.
Thayer was told to leave the property, officials said, but Thayer became angry and approached the two victims in a threatening manner while wielding an axe.
Officials said the 18-year-old victim lunged at Thayer in an attempt to disarm him and was able to get him on the ground. The second victim then was able to remove the axe from Thayer’s grip, officials said, and the 18-year-old victim restrained Thayer until deputies arrived.
Leodan Pino, 18, told WOFL-TV that his instincts took over amid the unnerving ordeal.
“I hear some screaming, someone yelling something,” Pino told the station. “Something along the lines of, ‘Where’s my wife? I can’t find my wife.’”
Pino added to WOFL that he knew he had to act.
“I timed [it] so that once he lowered [the axe], that’s when I shot the takedown,” Pino told the station. “I got on top of him, and I controlled the situation.”
WOFL reported that one of the car-wash workers — presumably Pino — hit Thayer in the face several times to disorient him.
Thayer was taken into custody, officials told the station, and he was found in possession of drug paraphernalia — a glass pipe believed to be a methamphetamine pipe.
He faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and a drug paraphernalia charge, WOFL said.
Thayer was taken to the Marion County Jail, and bail was set at $65,000, the station reported.
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