Man steals baseball bat from Walmart and attacks officer with it, California cops say

A 26-year-old man faces charges including attempted murder of a police officer after swinging a stolen baseball bat at an officer’s head, California police reported.

Julian Sebastien Kurko took an aluminum bat from a Walmart and threatened store employees with it at 3:39 p.m. Friday, March 4, an El Cajon Police Department news release said.

Store security officers followed Kurko through the business but lost sight of him, police said.

An El Cajon officer responding to a 911 call from the store encountered Kurko in the parking lot and told him to drop the bat, the news release said.

Instead, Kurko charged the officer with the bat over his head and swung it at the officer’s head, police said. The officer deflected the bat with his arm and tackled Kurko.

Other officers arrived and helped subdue Kurko, who was violently struggling, the release said. He was arrested on suspicion of robbery and attempted murder of a police officer.

Police ask that anyone with information call 619-579-3311.

El Cajon is a city of 103,000 people northeast of San Diego in Southern California.

This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 8:35 AM with the headline "Man steals baseball bat from Walmart and attacks officer with it, California cops say."