The Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 38-year-old Ocala man after he was accused of carrying a machete inside a local store and threatening several employees and customers.
On Sunday, an MCSO deputy responded to the Family Dollar located at 6060 SW Highway 200 in Ocala in reference to a suspicious incident. A store employee had contacted the sheriff’s office to advise that a man, later identified as Carl Jay Woodruff, had walked into the store with a black machete in his hand, according to the MCSO report.
Upon arrival at the store, the deputy made contact with Woodruff and noted in the report that he matched the description that was provided by the store employee. The deputy also observed a machete with a black handle that was “buried into the ground.”
The deputy informed Woodruff that MCSO was at the incident location due to receiving a report that he had a machete in his possession while inside the Family Dollar store. Woodruff told the deputy that he kept the machete for protection because “people keep (expletive) with me.”
After speaking with Woodruff, the deputy made contact with the first victim who was working inside the store at the time of the incident. She advised that Woodruff walked into the store with a machete, and when she greeted Woodruff, he allegedly shouted, “Doing (expletive) great.”
The first victim stated that Woodruff proceeded to walk past her and began “waving the machete around.” He then grabbed several items and paid for them at the cash register. According to the first victim, Woodruff called the cashier several expletives during the transaction.
The first victim further advised that Woodruff continued to wave the machete in his hand as he began exiting the store. She also claimed that Woodruff loudly asked her, “What the (expletive) are you looking at?” She told the deputy that she was fearful that Woodruff was going to harm her during the incident.
The deputy made contact with the cashier who was referred to in the report as the second victim. She gave a similar statement and advised that she believed that Woodruff was going to harm her with the machete.
Two additional victims were also interviewed by the deputy, and they advised that they were shopping inside the store at the time of the incident. They described Woodruff as being “aggressive” and told the deputy that Woodruff was swinging the machete in a threatening manner.
Woodruff was arrested and transported to the store. The first victim confirmed that Woodruff was the individual who had carried the machete inside the store, according to the MCSO report.
Woodruff was then transported to Marion County Jail where he is currently being held on $8,000 bond. He is facing felony charges for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill (four counts).
A court date has not been scheduled yet, according to jail records.