A North Carolina man made a series of bizarre statements to police after being arrested Sunday for allegedly breaking into several vehicles and slashing the tires of a pickup truck.
Andrew Stack, 32, was charged with three counts of burglary, one count of criminal mischief and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill after the incident, which started outside the Carpet One Floor and Home store, 1608 SW 17th St., and ended several blocks away at the AutoMax dealership, 1918 SW 17th St.
An Ocala Police officer responded to the Carpet One store in reference to a reported assault in progress. The officer was advised by the communications center that the suspect (Stack) was armed with a “big black knife” and had sliced the tires on a pickup truck. The communications center also advised that Stack was now in front of AutoMax, according to the OPD report.
Another officer responded to AutoMax, where he observed Stack waving his hands in the air erratically. Stack was being followed by another man, later identified as a victim, and a female. The victim told the officer that Stack had a knife and had just slashed the tire of a pickup truck, according to the report.
Stack was detained and placed in handcuffs. He was searched and found to be in possession of two sets of keys with a yellow tag, an orange knife and miscellaneous receipts, the report said.
The victim said he was advised of a suspicious male in the parking lot of Next Step Fitness, 1600 W. 17th St. The victim said he saw Stack walking in the street in front of the gym. The victim said he was walking toward Stack when he turned around and told him a red Nissan Versa was going to “blow up.” The victim said he looked at the vehicle Stack was talking about and noticed the driver’s door was fully open. He said he approached Stack to ask why he “broke into the car” when Stack started running away, according to the report.
The victim said he was chasing Stack eastbound on SW 17th Street when Stack turned around, pulled out a knife and asked the victim if he “wanted some.” The victim said no, and Stack started chasing him. Stack then stopped chasing him and turned around, and the victim resumed following him, the report said.
The victim said he saw his friend “Danny” and asked him to call the police. At that point, Stack slashed the tires of Danny’s Nissan Frontier and fled towards AutoMax. When they got to the dealership and as police were arriving, Stack told the victim, “Since I am going to jail, you are going to die,” according to the report.
A witness said he saw Stack hovering around a black Chevrolet Spark in the Next Step Fitness parking lot and that Stack had approached him and asked if he could borrow his vehicle. Another witness said he saw the Nissan Versa driver’s door open, but he didn’t witness Stack inside the vehicle, the report said.
An officer went to the Nissan Versa and observed the driver’s door wide open with a screwdriver on the ground below it. The owner of the vehicle said nothing was missing and that his garage door remote control was found two parking spaces away, according to the report.
Stack told the officer he was in the “new plaza” across the street from the bowling alley and trying to fix his blue/grey Ford “dually” truck because it had broken down. He said the victim tried to attack him, so he took out his pocket knife to defend himself. He said the victim then began chasing him down the middle of the road to AutoMax, and that a Nissan pickup truck tried to run him over, so he used his knife to slash the tires. Stack said the victim continued to chase him to the car dealership, which is where the officer found him, according to the report.
Stack had a small cut on his finger and requested Emergency Medical Services assistance, but he refused treatment when they arrived. However, he began making very irrational statements about all of the vehicles in the parking lot having bombs inside them and the inside of the patrol car smelling like gasoline. EMS personnel determined Stack was unable to refuse treatment for himself and transported him to the hospital for evaluation, the report said.
Once at the hospital, Stack changed his story and said he didn’t know what make the dually truck was. He also said the truck belonged to his father, that it hadn’t broken down and that he locked his keys inside it.
While lying on the hospital bed, Stack became very paranoid that someone was trying to kill him and that the call button for the nurse station was a detonator and there were bombs in the room. He also said he felt as if he was lying in alcohol and it was burning his skin, according to the report.
After being medically cleared, Stack was taken to the Marion County Jail, where he remains held on $12,500 bond. He’ll answer to the charges in Marion County Court on June 4.