A routine journey to the grocery retailer resulted in a near-fatal stabbing when a Florida father grabbed a knife from the butcher’s counter after a lady received right into a verbal altercation together with his then-partner, an act of violence that landed him behind bars for greater than a decade.
The brutal assault occurred June 9, 2023, when 40-year-old Jammacar Rodkesh Gayle entered Milan Grocery store in Port Charlotte, Florida, together with his kids and ex-wife. The household headed straight towards the meat counter behind the shop, the place prospects had been ready in line.
What occurs subsequent varies in conflicting experiences.
In accordance with an arrest affidavit obtained by Legislation and Crime, the would-be sufferer walked up and confronted the mother and father over their kids’s conduct, sparking an argument between the 2 ladies.
Efforts by Atlanta Black Star to acquire the affidavit from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace had been unsuccessful. Nonetheless, in line with a press launch from the State Lawyer for the twentieth Judicial Circuit of Florida, the argument between the sufferer and Gayle’s partner sparked over the mom’s use of “foul language.” The sufferer reportedly informed Gayle’s associate to cease.
Initially, Gayle stood apart and didn’t interact within the struggle, in line with police information.
Surveillance footage reportedly confirmed him maintaining his distance as the 2 ladies went backwards and forwards.
Issues briefly settled when the opposite lady stepped away to gather a part of the order she had positioned. However when she returned to choose up the remaining, tensions shortly reignited.
As the girl handed Gayle’s ex-spouse, considered one of them stated one thing out of line.
In accordance with authorities, Gayle’s ex-wife pushed the girl, who shoved her again. When Gayle stepped in, the girl knocked into him — setting off a brawl close to the meat counter, the place chef knives had been displayed on the market.
The lady pushed Gayle in opposition to a meat cooler and moved previous him. Enraged, Gayle grabbed a cast-iron pan from a close-by shelf and swung it towards her, however the man’s eldest daughter intervened, managing to drag the pan away earlier than it made contact.
Gayle refused to settle down, and out of the blue reached for an 8-inch chef’s knife nonetheless in its packaging, tore it open, and slashed and stabbed the girl, police stated.
A detective later described the scene captured on retailer video, saying Gayle swung the knife overhead twice, slashed the weapon throughout the girl, then introduced the blade down two extra occasions in a frenzy.
Sliced throughout the top and stomach, the girl started “bleeding profusely” as Gayle and his household fled the shop, police stated. The wounded lady staggered to the car parking zone, dripping with blood, attempting to {photograph} the person’s license plate. Gayle, nonetheless holding the bloody knife, threatened her once more earlier than peeling off.
The sufferer was airlifted to a trauma middle with life-threatening accidents.
She later informed Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace investigators that she’d been attacked by a Black man who grabbed a big chef’s knife from a shelf after an argument over his “uncontrolled youngsters,” in line with experiences, citing Gayle’s arrest affidavit.
Police raided a house in North Port to arrest Gayle, however he was nowhere to be discovered. Detectives searched the residence and recovered the knife used within the assault, in addition to Gayle’s bloodstained garments, which he discarded in a trash bag earlier than driving to New York, prosecutors later claimed.
Gayle was arrested the following day in Queens by U.S. Marshals and extradited to Florida to face fees of aggravated battery with a lethal weapon or inflicting nice bodily hurt.
At trial, prosecutors argued Gayle had brutally attacked the girl in a public setting over a petty dispute. Protection lawyer Diane Gonzalez, nevertheless, stated Gayle felt threatened and acted “method out of his character,” she informed the jury. “He doesn’t have a document, he’s a household particular person.”
In an interview with McClatchy Information, she stated Gayle broke down whereas testifying and was remorseful about what occurred. She additionally disputed the concept that Gayle was fleeing, saying he drove to New York solely to drop off his son earlier than planning to show himself in. The jury didn’t purchase it.
In March, following a three-day trial, Gayle was convicted of aggravated battery with a lethal weapon or inflicting nice bodily hurt. On April 14, he was sentenced to 12 years in jail. Gayle’s lawyer stated he intends to enchantment the decision.
Each Gayle’s household and the sufferer had been acquainted faces to the shop proprietor, who described them as regulars. Whether or not their paths had ever crossed earlier than that day, he couldn’t say. However in a matter of seconds, a public spat fueled by perceived slights and disrespect escalated right into a near-fatal encounter — one which ended with a knife flashing within the aisles and blood on the ground.
