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A Long Island man has been arrested and charged after he allegedly attacked three people with a machete at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store while trying to buy guns.
“So many things could have gone wrong here,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said after Friday’s attack, Newsday reported. “If he was able to buy a gun, who knows what he was going to do with it. There was a man running around with a machete attacking people for no reason. That could have been a lot worse.”
Police say Treyvius Tunstall, 22, of western Babylon, visited a Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Bay Shore on Friday afternoon and bought a machete, knife and backpack. He inquired about buying guns at the store, but was told he had to go to the chain’s Patchogue location to purchase guns.
According to police, Tunstall reached the Patchogue store around 3:15 p.m. on Friday. A store employee asked about a background check for the man who bought the firearms, which led to Tunstall walking away and allegedly attacking a store employee and two customers with a machete, police said.
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A general view of Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S., February 28, 2018. Portal/Eduardo Munoz (Portal/Eduardo Munoz)
The suspect went to the store’s emergency exit and attacked an assistant manager at the store who was moving a ladder, Newsday reported, citing Harrison. The employee suffered machete injuries to his upper body, arms and head. The clerk had severed tendons in his arm, and Harrison credited the police and paramedics with tying a tourniquet around the clerk’s arm, which may have saved his life. The worker is expected to survive but was taken to a local hospital in serious condition on Saturday, Newsday reported.
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Tunstall is said to have hit a customer in the head with the back of the machete, which was captured on surveillance video. The suspect attacked another customer in the parking lot, leaving lacerations on his arm and shoulder, according to Harrison.
No motive for the attack was determined. About 15 customers and 10 employees were in the store at the time of the attack, according to Newsday.
Guns for sale are seen at Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, the United States, on February 28, 2018. Portal/Eduardo Munoz (Portal/Eduardo Munoz)
“I’m not sure why he wanted to buy these rifles or why he wanted to buy these rifles,” Harrison said. “I think it’s very important to protect people. Certain laws must be in place, and red flag laws will be very important to public safety.”
Tunstall reportedly did not speak during the attacks, Harrison said.
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Tunstall was arrested after running into a wooded area near a Pep Boys store, where he dumped the machete near a dumpster. The police ordered him to lie on the ground at gunpoint and they found another knife on him during the arrest.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison speaks at a news conference in March. (Suffolk County Police Department/Facebook) (Suffolk County Police Department Facebook)
He pleaded not guilty to three counts of assault and six counts of criminal possession of a weapon. According to Newsday, Tunstall’s Suffolk County legal aid attorney has requested a medical review, saying her client may not understand the charges he is facing.
A judge set his bail at $400,000 cash or $800,000 bail and ordered him to stay away from the victims, according to the outlet.
Tunstall was arrested for burglary back in 2018 and was charged with menace earlier this year after he allegedly threatened his mother with a knife, according to Harrison.
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Dick’s Sporting Goods did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.