Inset: Ramsey Thomas Lyons (Charlotte County Jail). Background: The Publix in Punta Gorda, Florida, where Lyons allegedly slashed a 70-year-old man (Google Maps).
A Florida man allegedly targeted a random Publix shopper and slashed him across the face with a box cutter — all because the suspect said the victim looked like he was born in the 1960s and the suspect “disliked” the time period.
Ramsey Thomas Lyons, 47, stands accused of aggravated battery on a person 65 years or older.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, the 70-year-old man was shopping in an aisle at the Publix at 2310 Tamiami Trail in Punta Gorda when he “suddenly felt as if someone had punched him in the left side of his face.” He turned around and saw the suspect, later identified as Lyons, staring at him and holding a box cutter, cops said.
The victim saw blood on his hands and realized he had been stabbed, the affidavit stated. He ran for help.
Punta Gorda police said that when they arrived, they found Lyons standing near the store entrance with his hands on his head. They took him into custody. Officers also recovered a box cutter, per the complaint.
In an interview after receiving his Miranda rights, Lyons allegedly told cops he had an “undiagnosed mental illness” and had a “dislike for the 1960″s era.” Lyons allegedly said he entered the store “with the intent to murder someone” and saw the victim. He allegedly attacked the man because he “looked like he was from the 1960’s,” according to the affidavit.
“I just pulled it out of my pocket and stuck it in his neck,” he allegedly said, adding that he had been thinking of attacking someone for two days.
After he allegedly stabbed the victim, he dropped the box cutter so the police “wouldn’t be scared” and shoot him or use a Taser on him, cops wrote.
Lyons said he did not know the victim and randomly picked him out, officers noted.
The victim suffered a gash to his face that started on his left cheek near his mouth and continued downward through his jawline to his neck, cops said. He needed “numerous stitches,” police said.
Lyons is being held at the Charlotte County Jail without bond. His next court date is set for Nov. 16.
