Men argued inside drugstore before stabbing, employees say
A vicious fight between two men on a St. John’s drugstore parking lot last year drew a lot of people’s attention in the area.
But things first started heating up between the two inside the store, according to three Shoppers Drug Mart employees who testified Tuesday in the trial of Christopher Michael Tucker at Newfoundland Supreme Court.
Tucker is believed to have stabbed another man on the Lemarchant Road store parking lot. He faces charges of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and breaches of court orders.
Cosmetic manager Aleasha Angelo, stock man Jack Deutsch and pharmacist Brenda Bursey were all on duty on the afternoon of June 2, 2016, and witnessed the altercation.
Angelo said other employees alerted her about an argument
between two men near the pharmacy in the back of the store. By the time she finished serving a customer, she looked out the window and saw two men in a physical altercation. She said both were on the ground, with one on top of the other.
She said the men went across the street, but then returned to
the parking lot and got in separate cars, both driven by females, and left.
She thought she recognized one of the men. When asked if that man was in the courtroom, Angelo pointed to Tucker and replied, “I think that’s him.”
Angelo said she, Deutsch and a law enforcement officer at the store went outside after the men left and found a knife blade on the ground, but she said she hadn’t seen either of the men with a weapon during the fight.
Deutsch was stocking shelves near the pharmacy when he noticed two men in a verbal altercation. Surveillance video from inside the store showed Deutsch in an area near the men by the pharmacy.
He said he didn’t recognize either of them and the argument didn’t last long before one of the men left the store.
“The other stayed in to get his methadone,” Deutsch said.
Through the window, he saw the man who had left pacing frantically outside.
“He seemed to be getting frustrated. He seemed agitated,” Deutsch said.
Deutsch said that when the other man left the store, the two started throwing punching. He said he didn’t see a weapon, but did notice one of them making a swiping motion.
He said he couldn’t be sure who either of the men were.
Bursey testified that when she got word about the fight outside, she instructed one of the employees to review the surveillance video and ensure it was ready for police.
While inside reviewing the video in the store office with the store owner, she said, a police officer came in and showed her a photo from a phone of the two men fighting. She said she recognized one of them as Tucker, since he’s been a regular patient at the pharmacy. When the name of the other man was mentioned, she said she knew him as well, although she hadn’t seen him in some time.
Bursey also said Tucker had exchanged words with a woman in the pharmacy waiting area before the altercation outside.
The trial continues Wednesday.