Sword-wielding man arrested at Wal-Mart

A Chaffee, Mo., man armed with a sword, an air rifle and a pocketknife was arrested Monday morning after a two-city rampage that began with the robbery of a Scott City pharmacy and ended in Cape Girardeau with an empty bomb threat and an assault on a Wal-Mart display that caused the store to be evacuated.

No one other than the suspect, Richard Taylor, 57, was hurt.

Around 9 a.m. Monday, Scott City police received a report of a robbery at Scott City's Medicap Pharmacy. Scott City police chief Don Cobb said the suspect cut the phone line and struck the countertop with a knife before leaving with an unknown quantity of medication.

At 9:05 a.m., Cape Girardeau police received a report of an erratic driver heading north on Interstate 55 from Scott City. By the time Cape Girardeau authorities caught up with the motorist, Richard Taylor, 57, he had pulled up to the south entrance of Wal-Mart wielding a long sword with a wooden handle and a pellet rifle, authorities said.

Officer Jason Selzer of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said Taylor then entered the store, smashed some produce and watch displays with the sword and threatened customers and employees. He also claimed to have a bomb in his car outside, police said.

When confronted by police, Taylor pulled a pocketknife and approached an officer, authorities said. Selzer said the officer knocked the knife from Taylor's hand with his baton and subdued him. Taylor was taken to a local hospital for treatment of the hand.

Officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found no bomb in Taylor's Pontiac Firebird or in the store, which had been immediately evacuated. Customers were allowed to re-enter Wal-Mart at about 10:30 a.m.

Taylor has been charged with armed robbery in Scott County. He faces a plethora of charges in Cape Girardeau County -- felony charges of flourishing of a weapon in an angry or threatening manner, resisting arrest, two counts of assault of a law enforcement officer, and misdemeanor charges of property damage and possession of marijuana. The Cape Girardeau Police Department has him in custody. Bond was set at $250,000.

Selzer said Taylor did not make any demands during his tirade and that there was no indication Taylor fired his air rifle.

Anyone who was approached by Taylor inside Wal-Mart and has not been interviewed by police is asked to contact the Cape Girardeau Police Department. The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol assisted in the incident.

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137