A 74-year-old woman caused turmoil in a Trader Joe’s parking lot by deploying bear spray, leading to one person being hospitalized.
The incident unfolded when the woman from East Bay was involved in a dispute outside the grocery store located on the 3600 block of Mount Diablo Boulevard in Lafayette. Around 10:40 a.m. on a Saturday morning, she used the bear spray during the altercation.
The woman, identified as Monica Thomas from Oakland, left the scene after the attack. However, witnesses provided police with details about her vehicle and its direction of travel.
Orinda police officers subsequently located the vehicle and detained the driver on westbound Highway 24, according to a statement from the Lafayette Police Department.
The police later clarified that the argument between two people in the parking lot escalated when one of them used bear spray from the driver’s side window. The person sprayed again while driving away, further affecting the area.
A total of eight people were exposed to the spray and treated by the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. Among them, one individual required hospitalization.
Thomas was subsequently booked at the Martinez Detention Facility on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and illegal use of tear gas.
