MEMPHIS, Tennessee (July 22) - A knife-wielding grocery store employee attacked eight co-workers, seriously injuring four before a witness pulled a gun and stopped him, police said.

Elartrice Ingram, 21, was charged Friday with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder, police said. The attack apparently stemmed from a work dispute, investigators said.

Four victims, one in critical condition, were admitted to the Regional Medical Center, the main trauma hospital for the Memphis area. Four others were less badly hurt and treated at another hospital. Seven of the victims were stabbed, while another suffered heat-related symptoms while being chased, police said.

Another person was threatened, resulting in the nine charges against Ingram, The Commercial Appeal newspaper reported.

Ingram, chasing one victim into the store's parking lot, was subdued by Chris Cope, manager of a financial services office in the same small shopping center, Memphis Police Sgt. Vince Higgins said.

   

   
Cope said he grabbed a 9mm semiautomatic pistol from his pickup truck when he saw the attacker chasing the victim "like something in a serial killer movie."

"When he turned around and saw my pistol, he threw the knife away, put his hands up and got on the ground," Cope told The Associated Press. "He saw my gun and that was pretty much it."

Police arrived within minutes and took Ingram into custody.

"He just kept saying, 'I'm insane. I wish I was never born' and that kind of stuff," Cope said.

The attack started in an employee area of the Schnucks supermarket on the outskirts of Memphis and no customers were involved, Higgins said.

Police said two large kitchen knives used in the attack were found at the scene.            


07-22-06