A man armed with a machete who threatening to “hurt people” was arrested at Tanger Outlets Tuesday afternoon and charged with making a terrorist threat, according to Riverhead Town Police.
Police said John D. Medina, 32, of Mastic, was in possession of a machete and making statements that he wanted to hurt people and himself, Riverhead Police said in a press release.
Police were called to the outlet mall at about 12:43 p.m. They located Medina and found a machete in his backpack, police said. He made statements to responding officers that he wanted to hurt people, according to the report.
Medina was arrested and charged with making a terrorist threat, a class D felony under N.Y. state penal law; he was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a class A misdemeanor, police said. He was arraigned in Riverhead Justice Court and remanded to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in lieu of $250,000 cash bail.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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