Thomas Edward Ohl, a 68-year-old resident of Wellington Drive in Palm Coast, faces four felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse following an incident Saturday night at Walmart, where he allegedly chased two juveniles and an 18-year-old with a knife picked out of a shelf, after he said they’d made fun of his disability.
One of the individuals described the scene to Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies.
“Me and my friends were walking down the fishing aisle and he looks back and makes a noise and there was a guy that thought he was talking to him and took it the wrong way and pushed his shopping cart at my friend,” the alleged victim said. “He came after me after I tried to calm him down and then he was threatening to kill me and my friend and we ran away.”
The three stopped to see if he was still chasing them. Ohl had grabbed a fillet knife from one of the aisles and continued chasing. Another one of the alleged victims took a brief video of the confrontation, with a time stamp of 9:18 p.m.
The video shows a man “charging towards their direction through an aisle of Wal-Mart with a long knife that appeared to be a fishing fillet knife, with a white handle,” the arrest report states. “The male clearly had the knife raised up with his right hand and was advancing towards” one of the two juveniles. “The male had the knife raised past his belt line towards his chest height and the knife did not have any cover, sheath or covering on it.”
John Wood, the loss prevention officer at Walmart told deputies that he saw Ohl gesturing with the knife toward one of the juveniles within close proximity, at one point gesturing it toward one of the alleged victims’ head.
The two juveniles “were visibly distraught and shaken up from the incident,” and so flustered that they had trouble answering deputies’ questions at first. Their parents were called to the scene and elected to pursue charges on behalf of their children.
The 18 year old did not. He said Ohl may have misheard statements by the juveniles, or heard them out of context. The 18 year old had walked to Ohl at the time to apologize, but even as he was doing so, that Ohl was unpackaging the knife and soon charged the two juveniles.
Deputies found the torn packaging of the knife in the sporting goods aisle, torn up and thrown onto a shelf of sunglasses. It was for a 6-inch Danco Flex knife with a white handle and silver blade. Deputies eventually found a knife matching the description in a shopping cart that a Walmart employee was pushing to the front of the store.
Deputies reviewed surveillance footage and determined that Ohl “willingly and knowingly took the fillet knife, removed it from the packaging, pursued [the three individuals] after they had already left the sporting goods aisle, sought them out and charged at them with the fillet knife clearly visible in his right hand,” according to the arrest report.
After arresting him, deputies took Ohl to AdventHealth Palm Coast for medical clearance, where he refused medical assistance, then to the county jail.
He was booked at the jail on $30,000 bond and ordered to have no contact with the three alleged victims. He posted bail on Sunday and was released. Each of the charges he faces is a third-degree felony, each with a maximum penalty on conviction of five years in prison, though individuals with no prior record generally see significantly lesser penalties.
Dennis C Rathsam says
Great way to raise your kids, hope your proud of them!
JimboXYZ says
This story is heartbreaking, but somehow to be expected in 2025. The juveniles had no account, that’s why they were shaken to concoct their lie(s) that would fly. That old man’s voice box is his disability, not his ears. He heard them, they were harassing a 68 year old disabled senior person. The fact the 18 year old was trying to apologize, why is he apologize for something that any of them didn’t do in the 1st place ? While I wouldn’t condone what the old guy did, I am more inclined to believe his account than the others ? Would that indicate that this was no more than 3 punks harassing a disabled senior ? End of the day here, the only one that will be held accountable for crimes will be the 68 year old man. $ 30K bond, no contact with the relatively, alleged victims, domestic terrorist children, I doubt the old man wanted anything to do with them in the 1st place. Let’s see photos of the alleged victims, so the rest of us know who they are & what they’re about, tell us who the parents are that raised such model citizens that are the future of America ? When it goes to trial, hopefully we learn of their identities. Nobody wants to be around the troublemakers. I’ve seen the elderly man at Wal-Mart on several occasions, he never bothered anyone, just did his shopping like the rest of us. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there to protect the elderly guy from the harassment that he endured. And if I was ever in a position to assist him, I did. Advice for the anyone, an act of kindness hoes a lot further than making fun of another. You’re either making the world a better place or you aren’t. Some day, the situation may be turned around. You get only one moment to leave an impression, to make a difference in this world, the choice is yours.
Take a good look says
I’m not justifying what this man’s reaction was but…..So very sad and scary that the youth of today are the future of tomorrow.
JoAnne says
What the hell is wrong with people at Palm Coast? I am so sick of the behavior around here is changed so much in 26 years that I’ve been here.
Bill Boots says
Right on JimboXYZ,
Why apologize for something you didn’t do, only reason is if cops come he’d have a get out of jail card!
Why no picture of 18 yr old, connected?
Also some really poor in store investigation by the local keystone cops…….
FedUp says
@ Joanne – Palm Coast is a melting pot of ignorance, and the city is a cesspool.
I am a certain age says
TOO many of these punks in Palm Coast & parents don’t care raising their kids properly.
MFP says
I agree with Dennis and Jimbo…I’ve seen this gentleman many times at walmart and he bothers no one, on the other hand I’ve also seen a lot of teenagers 18 down causing chaos almost every day, not to say it’s the same ones since we have no pictures of them but all they do is disrespect adults and make comments that are uncalled for, play in the isles, throw things around, same happens at Target its ridiculous… Target and Walmart are not a hangout place or at least should not be….Parents talk to your kids, respect goes a long way
Florida Girl says
Jimbo – thank you for those perfectly said or typed wordage! I too, am wondering why no one remember what they said or did that might have initiated this from this man. This sounds like an act of desperation from the elderly gentlemen. How incredibly sad.