Fredericksburg Man Arrested After Knife-Wielding Incident at Walmart, Employee Injured

A Walmart employee suffered minor injuries after a 68-year-old Fredericksburg man attempted to assault staff with a knife during a disturbance, leading to his arrest on multiple charges, police said.

From the Stafford sheriff’s office:

A Walmart employee luckily only received minor injuries after a disturbance involving a 68-year-old Fredericksburg man.

On August 24th at approximately 2:28 p.m. Deputy D.S. Jett and Deputy J.W. McAlister responded to Walmart, located at 125 Washington Square Plaza, for a disturbance. It was advised a male suspect was actively being detained by staff after an assault. Since a knife was involved in the altercation, deputies quickly arrived on scene and detained the suspect before unraveling what occurred.

It was discovered the suspect, Derrick Jones, began using profane language towards an employee after being told he cannot chain up his bicycle to the customer service desk. A manager stepped out in an attempt to deescalate the situation. When Jones became increasingly more agitated, he was asked to leave. He would refuse and continued causing a scene. When staff began calling law enforcement, Jones reached for a knife on his hip and assaulted the manager. The manager tackled Jones in an attempt to detain him. Jones would continue to reach for his knife until another staff member could remove it from the altercation. Jones would continue to resist and even spit towards staff until deputies arrived to detain him. Luckily, no one was stabbed during the altercation.

Jones was charged with attempted malicious wounding, two counts of assault and battery, disorderly conduct, and trespassing. He was held at Rappahannock Regional Jail without bond.