http://www.statesboroherald.net/showstory.php?$recordID=4044
Woman attacked in Wal-Mart
A man carrying several weapons, including a stun gun and pepper spray, assaulted a woman in the bathroom at Wal-Mart around 6:22 p.m. Friday, knocking her two-year-old granddaughter from her arms and forcing her into a stall.
The attack occurred in a restroom at the rear of the store, said Statesboro Police Capt. L.C. Williams.
The man, later identified as Stephen Mark Hall, 25, Garfield, used the stun gun when he attacked the victim, then threatened her with a knife as he tried to force her into the stall, he said.
“The victim was knocked to the floor but kept her grandchild away from Hall,” Williams said. “She began to scream, and Wal-Mart employees and shoppers entered the bathroom and got the female and child out.”
Hall, who Williams said was carrying the stun gun, knife, “pepper spray, an expandable baton, brass knuckles and three sets of handcuffs,” fled from the bathroom but was surrounded by store employees and shoppers.
“He began to spray them with pepper spray and threaten them with his stun gun,” he said. “While he fled the store he was spraying pepper spray at anyone he came into contact with.”
Hall made it to the parking lot, but an unidentified man drew a gun and stopped him, Williams said.
“Det. Robert Bryan arrived on the scene and was advised ... the offender was in the parking lot,” he said. Bryan found Hall outside the store “with a pistol drawn on the offender. ... (by a) United States Marine Corps Reservist.”
Bryan and the unnamed Marine ordered Hall to drop his weapons and surrender, but he refused, Williams said.
Another officer, Advanced Patrol Officer Ken Scott, arrived to assist, and Hall eventually “dropped his weapon and was placed under arrest,” Williams said.
Hall was taken to the Bulloch County Jail, charged with aggravated assault, two counts of kidnapping, possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime (two counts), possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, two counts of cruelty to children, multiple counts of battery, one count of carrying a concealed weapon, and one count of carrying a weapon at a public gathering, he said.
Bulloch County EMS arrived at the store to “render medical aid to the female who was assaulted and assist with decontaminating the victims that were (attacked) with pepper spray,” he said.
The Statesboro Fire Department also responded to help ventilate the store, he said.
The incident is still under investigation and more details will be released later, Williams said.