An escaped psychiatric patient wreaked havoc at Richards Variety Store in the Midtown Promenade shopping center in Midtown Atlanta -- smashing glass and threatening customers with a barbecue fork and shards of broken porcelain -- before police calmed her.
"She just started crashing up the store, making a clean sweep of all the pretty glasses and plates on the shelves," said witness Arlette Freeman. "She just went up and down each aisle."
The store -- one of two in Atlanta -- is much like the old "five and dime" stores, selling toys that were popular decades ago, housewares, candy, books and furniture. Just inside the entrance is a mechanical pony with rides for a quarter.
According to Freeman, the staff remained calm, keeping other customers away from the 16-year-old and helping parents with young children escape through the rear alley door. Atlanta Police Department Sgt. D. Hall said the woman "ran out of the psych centers around the corner." It took several minutes Tuesday afternoon to detain her as "she pretty much kept us at bay with sharp objects."
APD said the value of the destroyed items was put at $1,000.
Police spokesman officer James Polite said the teenager, whose name was not released because of her age, was upset that an employee at Hillside Center would no longer be her caregiver.
Representatives from the psychiatric center had tracked the teenager to the store and they were there when police talked her into surrendering her weapons. They declined to comment to a reporter.
The girl was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital to be evaluated and then will be taken back to the Hillside Center. She was charged with criminal damage to property.
Staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.
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