Walmart guard allegedly rammed by angry customer

A 35-year-old security guard in Sherbrooke is in critical condition after a Walmart customer allegedly rammed him with a vehicle in an apparent case of rage over social distancing rules for COVID -19.

“He is fighting for his life and we fear for his survival,” said Martin Carrier, a media-relations officer with Sherbrooke’s police department.

A 25-year-old man is in police custody and faces charges of armed assault with a vehicle, aggravated assault and hit-and-run, Carrier said.

The incident happened Saturday at about 5 p.m. when the customer and a female companion arrived at a Walmart store in the Galeries 4 Saisons shopping centre at 940 16th Ave. in Sherbrooke.

Told by the security guard that only one person per car was allowed to enter the store because of social distancing measures, the man flew into a rage and left with his companion, Carrier said.

They then got into the car and the argument escalated, Carrier added.

The driver rammed the security guard, who landed on the hood of the vehicle, and then made a manoeuvre to shake him off and left the scene, Carrier said.

Police arrested a man later Saturday evening at his home.

The victim has life-threatening head injuries, Carrier said.

No charges have been laid against the driver’s partner for now, Carrier said, adding that police are interviewing witnesses and examining security footage.

At his daily media briefing on Sunday, Premier François Legault described the event as an isolated incident.

“Unfortunately, you have a few crazy people in our society, but I didn’t hear that it’s happening much in Quebec,” Legault said.

“Of course, it’s unacceptable what happened in Sherbrooke,” the premier added.

“But they had already a guard, and the guard was the guy hit by this crazy guy, so what can we do against that?”