Man who brandished gun at local Walmart identified as Kennett High grad

EAST MARLBOROUGH >> Quick response by police along with alert employees at the Walmart store in East Marlborough Saturday was responsible for the apprehension of a man yelling and brandishing a gun. The gun was later revealed to be a black airsoft pistol.

The suspect has been identified as Edilberto Ayllon-Tapia, 19, from Toughkenamon. He is a 2018 graduate of Kennett High School.

An employee, well aware of a recent mass shooting in an El Paso Walmart store that left nearly 22 people dead, saw a man near the sporting goods department of the store pull out a gun from his waist band Saturday. Po

lice said the employee immediately notified the store manager, who called police.

Police said Ayllon-Tapia was acting erratically, yelling and screaming. His erratic behavior, along with employees not knowing if the weapon was real or not, caused the evacuation of the store.

The manager told assistant managers and employees to immediately evacuate the store. Customers left the store through the side, away from the customer service desk, police said.

Police response was very quick, and they arrived as customers were still evacuating the store.

Troopers arrived at the store and approached the suspect, who began to reach for his waistband, where troopers assumed the gun was located. But before Ayllon-Tapia could reach for the gun, troopers ran and tackled him. Ayllon-Tapia resisted and tried to fight off troopers, but was unsuccessful.

Police said no customers were harmed during the incident.

Charges were filed by a member of the Criminal Investigation Unit, police said. Those charges included aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Ayllon-Tapia was arraigned at 7:50 p.m. and failed to post bail. He is being held in Chester county prison where he remains.

An incident at a Walmart in New Jersey involving an airsoft gun took place earlier this week. A woman thought she saw a real gun, but police say she spotted a toy airsoft gun and a mask being shoplifted at a Walmart in Union Township, N.J. The store was evacuated, with a threatening text message being sent around nationwide warning about potential shootings at Walmarts.

And at a Walmart in Missouri, a man was apprehended outside the sore wearing full body armor with a loaded gun.

SUBMITTED PHOTO A man brandishing a gun was arrested at the WalMart store in East Marlborough.