Thursday, October 1, 2026
A man was arrested after shoplifting, harassing and threatening Fred Meyer employees on May 13.
Lacey Police Department (LPD) officers responded to a disturbance at a Fred Meyer located at 700 Sleater Kinney Road SE, following a call from one of the employees.
The incident involved a man who was reportedly behaving aggressively and making threats.
According to witnesses, the suspect was allegedly tearing security tags off clothing and throwing items at customers.
The suspect “was asking security to shoot him and charging at them,” according to the police report.
Two officers made initial contact with the suspect and the suspect was compliant and seated on the ground when approached by the reporting officer, who then detained him.
The suspect had previously been trespassed from the same location, the officer states in the report, “As I got closer to the suspect, he was making demands about wanting to go to jail.”
When interviewed by authorities, Fred Meyer security personnel reported that the suspect had asked if he could take the merchandise he was holding without paying.
When the security staffer refused, the suspect demanded that the cops be called because he wanted to go to jail.
"[The suspect) then began aggressively approaching him while making statements about taking his gun and shooting him in the head,” stated the Fred Meyer security staff member during his interview with LPD officers.
The security staffer managed to evade the suspect and confirmed to authorities that he believed the threats were credible.
Fred Meyer employees corroborated the security staff member's account and witnessed the suspect aggressively approaching the security and threatening to shoot him.
The suspect was arrested, and transported to Thurston County Jail for charges of harassment – threats to kill, and second-degree burglary.
3 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
RandallInOly
Three things come to mind, after reading this tragic story: 1. I understand authorities requiring some time before specific details are released to the press, but this incident occurred about a month ago! Why is the Jolt only reporting on it now?
2. As much as I find the Jolt to be of value (considering many towns and cities no longer have a local news outlet), I wish the journalist had mentioned the fact that this poor individual involved, while potentially a violent threat to both customers and security personnel, clearly was suffering from some sort of mental illness. Have officials Still not obtained any training for how to approach someone like this? And lastly, I could not believe how tacky it is / was to see an actual Fred Meyer ad directly below the story... which occurred.... inside a local Freddy's store!
Saturday, June 15, 2024 Report this
RandallInOly
Oooops-- scratch that. Just noticed that the ad is for QFC, not Fred Meyer. But still... not really a good look for Any supermarket ads, directly below a sad story involving another local supermarket.
Saturday, June 15, 2024 Report this
DeerbrushKid
Thanks Jolt for the solid reporting!
Saturday, June 15, 2024 Report this