Mentally Ill Slug Arrested In Disturbing Beating Of Store Worker

[Sugar Cookie]

A mentally ill man caught on video ruthlessly beating a cellphone store employee in Phoenix has been arrested, police said.

Michael Cook, 33 — whose family said he has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia but doesn’t take his medication regularly — was arrested Tuesday in the brutal attack on a Cricket Wireless employee, Phoenix police said.

Department officials previously posted a 57-second clip of Saturday’s attack, which occurred as Maria Coronado, 22, was working alone at the store.

“How can I help you?” Coronado asked the man in the clip identified by cops as Cook.

The disturbed suspect immediately launched himself onto Coronado, taking her to the floor and punching her relentlessly as she screams and pleads for him to stop, the footage shows.

The agonizing assault continued as Cook got back onto his feet and began stomping Coronado. He then walked off into a back room — where he allegedly stole cash and phones — as the battered worker ran out of the store, according to the clip.

Cook has been charged with robbery, kidnapping, assault and criminal trespassing. His mother told cops he was not taking his schizophrenia medication at the time, KSAZ reported.

Cook told cops he heard voices in his head to kill himself before assaulting Coronado. Police said he also admitted stealing three cellphones, selling two of them later for fentanyl and methamphetamine, according to the station.

Coronado needed several stitches to close a gash on her face and had a fractured nose.

“He was evil,” she told KSAZ. “He knew what he was doing. This was premeditated. He came four times the whole day, just seeing if there were customers, if I was alone. On Wednesday, he literally told a manager, ‘I’m going to come back and kill you.'”

Cook was a regular customer at the store, Coronado said, but no one had contacted cops about the prior alleged threat. She now fears working alone after the ferocious assault.

“It just breaks my heart that no matter what I did — I plead with him, I even told him I was pregnant just to see if maybe that he would stop, and he didn’t,” she told KSAZ. “He just kept on going and going and going.”

An online fundraiser set up on behalf of Coronado had raised more than $2,500 as of Thursday.

Mentally ill man arrested in disturbing beating of store worker: cops

Michael Cook was arrested Tuesday in the brutal attack of a Cricket Wireless employee, Phoenix police said.

nypost.com

Cook’s brother, Malik Cook, says he wasn’t surprised and that his brother suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and won’t take his medication consistently. “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 said.

Malik says Michael is also addicted to drugs. He lives with his mother and two uncles and won’t allow Michael into their Glendale home. “We felt in danger before. We really didn’t want him here,” Malik said. “When you see my mom, she got that cut right here, she got a whole cut, tore her mouth up with a phone, threw it at her,” he continued.

He hopes this arrest is a turning point for his brother. “Either you figure out a better decision for how you live, or you end up in there the rest of your life,” Malik said, referring to prison.

Family turns in man accused of brutally beating Phoenix phone store employee

As seen in surveillance video by police, Cook kicked the woman multiple times and punched her.

www.azfamily.com

 

[Satanica]

Again, it's too bad he can't just be humanely euthanized for everyone's safety. As an alternative, just keep him confined for the rest of his life in a mental institution.

 

[Hermy]

So he won't take his prescribed meds but fentanyl and methamphetamine are acceptable?

This dude knew exactly what he was doing, where, to whom and for what purpose -- to get money and objects he could easily sell. If he doesn't know what he's doing, why didn't he steal the trash bin?