Employee stabbed at restaurant on Modesto’s McHenry Avenue. One arrested after standoff
Two people, including a suspect, were taken by ambulance for medical treatment after a stabbing and brief standoff at the Jack in the Box on the 1800 block of McHenry Avenue late Monday morning.
A female employee was stabbed by a man later identified by the Modesto Police Department as 18-year-old Angel Suarez of Manteca. The employee’s injuries were not life-threatening. Suarez was taken for “medical clearance” because of his “unusual behavior,” MPD spokeswoman Sharon Bear told The Bee. “It was a precaution.”
He faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and probation violation, Bear said.
Law enforcement including Modesto police officers and Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies received the call shortly after 10 a.m. At least four MPD units and one Sheriff’s Office unit sped north on McHenry Avenue, lights and sirens on, in response.
A brief standoff followed the stabbing. Suarez hid near the kitchen as law enforcement surrounded the restaurant and called for him to surrender over a bullhorn. His location was discovered using a drone inside the restaurant.
“The building was evacuated and the suspect was contained inside,” read an MPD statement.
Officers detained Suarez at about 11:30 a.m.
The motive for the attack was still under investigation Monday, as were questions regarding whether the stabbing was a random act or targeted.
