Police: Starbucks Customer Shot Man Who Attacked Employee
Oct 4, 2018, 6:47 PM | Updated: 9:36 pm
MILLCREEK, Utah – Investigators with the Unified Police Authority are investigating said a customer shot a man who attacked an employee at a Millcreek Starbucks.
The incident happened around 6 a.m. Thursday near 3900 South 900 East.
Detective Ken Hansen said 37-year-old Benjamin Overall was at a 7-Eleven harassing customers and employees. An employee hit their panic alarm and police responded.
When police arrived on scene, Overall had reportedly gone across the street to the Starbucks.
Officials said Overall then began to attack an employee. A customer with a concealed weapon permit allegedly shot Overall once in the chest.
Hansen said police were going into the coffee shop to take Overall into custody when he came outside on his own. Police then immobilized Overall with a Taser, not realizing he had been shot.
When they rolled him over, they saw the bullet wound and called for medical services.
Overall was transported to the hospital where he was listed in serious condition.
Police were working to determine whether or not the shooting was justified. They said the man who fired the shot was cooperating with them.
“It’ll take some time to determine if deadly force was required in this situation. Usually, you kind of respond to equal force, but once we look at it and see exactly if that helped stop that attack on the clerk, those kind of things will make the determination on how that all turns out,” Hansen said.
Starbucks does not ban weapons in its stores. In 2013, then-CEO Howard Schultz wrote an open letter to customers requesting that they not bring firearms into their stores unless they are authorized law enforcement personnel. The company issued a statement in response to Thursday’s incident.
“We are thankful all our partners and customers are safe after going through such a terrifying experience. Our focus is on supporting our partners at this time and we are grateful local authorities were there to help,” a spokesperson said.
A check of court records turned up an intoxication case from April 2018 in which Overall had been referred to a behavioral health facility. In July, that facility sent a letter to the court, saying Overall had not come in for his evaluation.
The courts updated the record Thursday morning to say the facility had gotten in touch with them to say Overall had been in the hospital, then a nursing home, and was now homeless.
