71-year-old stabbed at mall trying to stop man he saw shoplifting, Oklahoma cops say
A shoplifting dispute at an Oklahoma mall on Monday left a man hospitalized with a stab wound, police say.
A 71-year-old man was shopping in a Dillard’s store at the Woodland Hills Mall in Tulsa when he thought he saw a man shoplifting, Tulsa police wrote in a Facebook post.
When the shopper confronted the man, he pulled out a knife and stabbed the shopper in the chest, police said.
“A little scuffle happened with them and they separated,” Danny Bean, a public information officer with the Tulsa Police Department, told KTUL. “About that time our suspect drew a knife out of the coat he was wearing and then stabbed our victim in the chest.”
The shopper was rushed to a hospital where he underwent surgery, police said. He’s in stable condition.
After the stabbing, the man ran off and police asked for the public’s help in locating him.
Police said Tuesday they’d arrested 19-year-old David Alvarado.
He was booked into the Tulsa County Jail on a complaint of assault and battery with a deadly weapon.
Officials say to be cautious when choosing whether to intervene in a situation.
“We don’t want citizens to take matters into their own hands because they don’t know what they’re getting into,” Karen Gilbert, executive director for Tulsa Crime Stoppers, told KTUL. “You don’t know if that suspect has a weapon on them, whether it be a knife or a gun, so that’s why it’s so important to be that good witness.”
She added that a bystander can step in if they feel it’s necessary.
“He didn’t make himself a victim by any chance,” Bean told KTUL. “Whatever you feel is safest doing, if you feel safe confronting someone, that’s going to be your decision.”
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