Attack at Walmart racially motivated, police say

people of walmart

COLUMBIA — Two brothers were arrested Thursday afternoon after an attack in which Columbia police say one brother, motivated by race, tried to run over three adults and four children in the Walmart parking lot at 3001 W. Broadway.

James Robert Pezold, 25, and his younger brother, Michael Garrett Pezold, 20, face a string of charges for crimes police say were committed before, during and after the incident at Walmart. Both men are from O’Fallon, but police say they were apparently living in Paquin Tower recently.

Columbia police withheld the names of the victims at Walmart, saying only that they were black. The four children were all under age 9.

The Pezold brothers went to Walmart to steal cans of compressed air to inhale, according to a probable cause statement. In the report, police said that Michael Pezold verbally assaulted the families exiting Walmart using racial slurs before the brothers circled the parking lot in their red truck. According to police, Michael Pezold then got out of the truck and “charged” a 25-year-old man who had just exited the building, saying, “I’m gonna f—— kill you, n—–.”

Meanwhile, James Pezold drove his truck onto the sidewalk outside the store toward the families, knocking down a 2-year-old, which left the child with minor injuries, and missing others “by inches,” according to the statement. He later reportedly told a police officer that he “wanted to kill those people.”

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