Man arrested for attacking grandmother at Fort Wayne JCPenney store

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WISH) — A man was arrested in Fort Wayne for a attacking and robbing a grandmother at a JCPenney store in Glenbrook Mall. Police say a woman called 911 and said that a man later identified as William Thompson, attacked her grandmother.

Court papers say the woman and her grandmother were shopping when they saw Thompson acting strange near them in the store.

The older woman told police Thompson attacked her, threw her to the ground, and put her in a choke hold. During the attack, she said Thompson said, “I promise I’ll kill you. I have a gun.”

Her granddaughter shared the same version of events and said she started hitting Thompson during the attack, court papers say. She told police Thompson then grabbed her glasses off of her face before running away to another part of the mall.

Police say once inside the mall, Thompson stopped at a jewelry kiosk and was about to throw a jewelry display case through a store’s glass window when he was stopped by a mall security guard.

According to court papers, he threw the display case on the ground, breaking it into pieces. He is also accused of ripping a mailbox off the wall, causing $2,000 worth of damages.