A suspect was arrested in connection to the beating, which was caught on video, of a woman inside a Cricket Wireless store in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday.
Thirty-three-year-old Michael Cook was accused of trying to rob the business located near 43rd Avenue and Bethany Home Road, and he allegedly fled carrying some merchandise, AZFamily.com reported Wednesday.
The Phoenix Police Department shared surveillance footage Tuesday of the incident at the store when a man wearing a black t-shirt approached the woman behind the counter.
He appeared to hit her over and over as she fell on the floor, screaming until he stopped and moved away. The employee then ran outside and to another business nearby for help.
WARNING – Graphic Video:
Meanwhile, Cook’s brother, Malik Cook, said his brother has paranoid schizophrenia and refuses to take his medication on a regular basis.
“We’ve been trying to get him help, he doesn’t take it, and then when we hope when he is outside, he doesn’t go and abuse people,” Malik explained, adding Michael was also a drug addict.
He lives with his mother and two other relatives but has refused to allow Michael into their house because they felt they were in danger in the past.
The victim told Fox 10 that no matter what she did to get the suspect to stop, he did not. She also described her multiple injuries.
“It was evil. He knew what he was doing. This was premeditated. He came, like, four times the whole day just seeing if there was customers, if I was alone. On Wednesday, he literally told the manager, ‘I’m going to come back and kill you,'” the woman said:
The outlet also reported that paperwork showed the man admitted stealing several cell phones and selling two for fentanyl and meth.
The AZFamily.com article continued:
In an interview with detectives, the woman told officers that she had seen Cook in the area several times and believed he was homeless. The woman also told investigators that she had given him a government-paid phone in the past and had been in several times to report his phone as stolen to get a new one. However, court paperwork said that she had “never had any issues with him in the past.”
Officials eventually booked the suspect into jail on charges including robbery, assault, and kidnapping.