A man accused of attacking a gas station clerk with a butter knife has been linked to a second attack, Atlanta police said.
Jareal Natson, 18, was arrested Monday on an armed robbery charge after allegedly attacking a clerk at a Shell station on 14th Street.
Natson now faces more charges, including attempted murder, after police said he attacked an employee at a store in the 900 block of Marietta Street.
Officers were initially sent to the location about midnight Monday on a person shot call, Atlanta police spokeswoman Officer TaSheena Brown said. They found a man who had been stabbed several times.
Investigators determined that Natson had gone into that location, assaulted the store clerk and left with the cash register, Brown said. A witness who came into the store during the attack called police.
The clerk was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with injuries to his head and back.
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Police said Natson was arrested later that same day after two Shell employees locked him inside their gas station.
Berhan Nemaneta, a clerk at the Shell station, said Natson was angry when he stormed inside and jumped over the counter. He recognized Natson as a store regular.
“He came in immediately shouting,” Nemaneta told Channel 2 Action News. “He shout(ed) and jumped. I saw him, his face. He was very, very scary.”
The man began attacking another clerk with a butter knife, according to Atlanta police Capt. Jessica Bruce.
He “began striking the clerk in the head with the butter knife, causing minor lacerations to his head,” she told the news station from the scene.
Both Nemaneta and the victim ran from the store and locked Natson inside until police arrived about 3:30 a.m. He was quickly taken into custody, and the victim was taken to WellStar Atlanta Medical Center.
Natson was booked into the Fulton County Jail, where he remains without bond. He faces charges of armed robbery, criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony.
