The Delaware State Police have taken two individuals into custody after a violent confrontation with a Dollar General employee in New Castle, according to a recent report. Matthew Perez, 23, and Veronica Coleman, 27, both of New Castle, face multiple serious charges, including aggravated menacing, in the wake of the incident that unfolded on Sunday afternoon.
At 4:17 p.m. on August 18, troopers responded to a call from the Dollar General located at 1403 Dupont Parkway after reports of a fight broke out, the details of the altercation, as released by police, outline a sequence of disturbing events; Perez and Coleman previously banned from the premises for shoplifting, became belligerent when asked to leave, Perez then threatened a store associate with bodily harm and pursued them with a knife, while Coleman used a vehicle and released a dog to attack the worker.
A press release further indicated that in the midst of the chaos, two minors, ages 12 and 15, found themselves inadvertently ensnared in the danger, the younger child surviving a shocking vehicular threat and the other barely escaped being hit by Coleman's car. A large fixed-blade knife was discovered in Perez and Coleman's possession upon a vehicular search post-arrest, both suspects were taken into custody without further incident and the victim managed to elude serious injury.
Perez faces charges including felony possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony and aggravated menacing, he was held at Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on a $25,500 cash bond; meanwhile, Coleman confronts an array of charges herself, including assault second degree and reckless endangerment of the first degree, and she was committed to Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution on a $9,000 secured bond, their vehicle was searched law enforcement found a deadly weapon which tied into the charges, the compromised dog involved was safely turned over to animal control.
