A 14-year-old boy was taken into custody Monday night after Lincoln police say he threatened a man he knew with a garden rake, then grabbed a kitchen knife and kept coming at him, in a confrontation that spilled from a residence into a south Lincoln grocery store.
According to klkntv.com, Lincoln police were dispatched around 8:15 p.m. on Monday after multiple callers reported a physical altercation between the teenager and a 53-year-old man near South 19th and Washington streets. Per klin.com, Lincoln police public information manager Erika Thomas said officers were called to the same area shortly after 8:15 p.m. for a reported disturbance, and that the teenager and the 53-year-old man knew each other at the time.
Investigators determined the teen had initially threatened the 53-year-old with a garden rake, and the man managed to wrestle the rake away from him. Rather than back down, the teen then grabbed a kitchen knife and continued threatening the man, the station’s report states. The confrontation didn’t stay put — per klin.com, it moved inside Russ’s Market at 17th and Washington, with the teen allegedly threatening the man first at a residence and then again once they reached the store.
Conflicting Details on the Intervening Man’s Age
Both accounts describe an otherwise unidentified man who tried to stop the altercation with a shopping cart, though they differ on his reported age. Klkntv.com reported that officers arriving on scene saw the teenager holding a large kitchen knife and lunging toward an unknown 69-year-old man who had tried to stop the altercation with a shopping cart. Klin.com, however, reported that the intervening man was 68 years old, citing Thomas’s account that officers found the teen holding the knife and moving toward him.
The teenager first complied immediately when officers told him to drop the knife, according to Thomas’s account relayed by klin.com. The intervening man then picked it up and was ordered by officers to drop it. Klkntv.com reported the same sequence, saying the 14-year-old dropped the knife first, after which the 53-year-old man picked up the blade and was also told to put it down.
Charge and Custody Details
The reports give different details about what happened next for the teen. Klin.com states he was referred for attempted second-degree assault, while klkntv.com reported he was taken into custody and brought to the Youth Services Center for second-degree attempted assault. Both accounts describe attempted second-degree assault. Under Nebraska law, as laid out by the Nebraska Legislature, the reckless-conduct provision tied to second-degree assault applies when someone makes a conscious choice of action involving a dangerous instrument that disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk to another — intent to cause serious bodily injury is not required under that section.
Police recovered both the garden rake and the kitchen knife at the scene, according to klin.com’s reporting. The investigation found no reported injuries to the other individuals involved in the confrontation.
Not the First Grocery-Store Scare Near Washington Street
This isn’t the first time police activity has centered on a grocery store along Washington Street. Klkntv.com previously reported that officers were seeking a man accused of attacking a shopper at Russ’s Market near 17th and Washington streets around 6:40 a.m. on May 3, in an incident where a thrown shopping cart missed its target and left the shopper with nothing worse than a sore hand. Separately, the Journal Star has reported on a case in which Lincoln officers deployed a taser after a man approached an officer wielding knives. Neither incident is tied to Monday night’s confrontation, and the available reporting does not point to any broader pattern connecting them.
