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LAYTON — A man who police say forced the evacuation of a grocery store in Layton was charged Monday with threatening multiple customers with an 8-inch "serrated grass knife."
Nicholas David Carter, 38, is charged in 2nd District Court with two counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, plus criminal trespass and property damage, class B misdemeanors.
A Layton police officer responded Aug. 15 to calls from a Fresh Market, 910 N. Fairfield Road, and found Carter "swinging a knife through the air and hitting items off a shelf," according to charging documents.
The officer was "familiar" with the man and was "aware (Carter) had mental health issues," the charges state. The entire store was evacuated while the officer convinced Carter to drop the knife. Once the weapon was dropped, court documents indicate he was taken into custody "without further issue."
One person told investigators Carter had approached him with the knife in the parking lot, but he was able to get into his car and lock the door "to avoid being assaulted," a police booking affidavit says. Another person who encountered Carter in the store told police the man threatened to "cut his throat and kill him," before stabbing boxes of cereal.
Carter has previously been banned from that Fresh Market location, and caused a small amount of damage to products that day, the charges say.
