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UPDATE 3/30/18: The Escanaba Public Safety arrested Evan Peterson, 33 years old, after he went on a rampage in Elmer’s County Market two weeks ago.
Peterson is facing six felony charges.
- One count Arson/Preparing to Burn a Property–$20,000 or more
- One count Assault with a Dangerous Weapon
- One count Assault/Resisting a Police Officer Causing Injury
- Three counts Assault/Resisting a Police Officer
At this time, the investigation is ongoing and more charges could be filed. No court date has been set at this time.
You can see more on this story below.
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UPDATE 3/18/18: Employees at Elmer’s County Market in Escanaba spent the weekend cleaning up thousands of dollars worth of damage, after a man went on a destructive rampage throughout the back of the store on Friday night.
Radio Results Network spoke with night manager Scott Rasner, who said it all started just before 11 pm, when the 33-year-old Escanaba man became agitated and pulled a knife on one of the market employees.
As police were called, the man ran through the store, into the back, and climbed into some storage racks.
“He worked his way up onto the pallet racking, and ended up getting cornered. My understanding is that, that’s when he kind of lost it, as you can say. He started throwing stuff,” Rasner explained.
One item that was thrown off of the racking at employees and police was a 500 pound oven.
RRN says the man then pulled a pipe onto a gas furnace, and started a fire. DTE Energy was called to come shut of the gas to the store.
Rasner said that in effort to escape, the man then banged a hole through the wall, but instead fell through the ceiling and dropped about 15 feet.
“It was unfortunate that when he broke through the wall, on the other side of the wall was quite a drop, and he hit the suspended ceiling and ended up in our deli,” Rasner said.
Police eventually detained him after using a high-pressure water hose.
The suspect suffered serious back injuries, and was being treated at OSF St. Francis Hospital.
Rasner estimated that the incident will cost thousands of dollars in extra staff hours to clean up the mess, in addition to the lost merchandise and damaged racks.
The suspect’s name has not been released.
No customers or Elmer’s staff members were hurt in the incident, though one Escanaba Public Safety officer suffered a minor injury.
You can see our original story below.
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ESCANABA – A 33-year-old man who created havoc at Elmer’s County Market for nearly two hours Friday night and threatened a worker with a knife is in police custody.
The Escanaba Department of Public Safety was dispatched to the grocery store at 412 North Lincoln Road at about 10:30 p.m. on a report of a man ‘acting strangely.’
Workers showed officers to the receiving area at the back of the store where the man had barricaded himself in a second story storage area.
Police say the man, who was ‘out of control’ during the course of nearly two hours, did the following:
- Threw metal shelving, metal brackets, pipes, lumber, and other items
- Intentionally damaged the hot water heater, creating a gas leak
- Intentionally put a lighter to the gas leak and started it on fire
- Destroyed numerous products and equipment worth thousands of dollars
- Broke through wall next to the storage area and fell approximately 15 feet through the ceiling of the deli kitchen
The man was taken into custody by police and taken to OST St. Francis Hospital by RAMPART personnel who were on standby outside the store.
One employee was injured by an object thrown by the suspect; an officer sustained a minor injury when the suspect fell through the ceiling.
Escanaba Public Safety was assisted by the Delta County Sheriff Department, Delta County Central Dispatch, RAMPART personnel and DTE.
