(Reuters) – A blood-covered man carrying the severed head of his mother and a knife, walked into an Oregon grocery store on Mother’s Day and stabbed a clerk before being subdued, local law enforcement officials said.
Joshua Lee Webb, 36, faces charges of murder in the death of his mother, Tina Marie Webb, 59, and attempted murder for the attack on the clerk, Michael Wagner, who was recovering from his wounds in a hospital, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department.
Webb is being held in the Clackamas County Jail, the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement on Monday.
Customers fled the Estacada Harvest Market Thriftway in Estacada, Oregon on Sunday morning and called police after Webb entered carrying the head, according to local press reports.
After Wagner, 66, was stabbed, he and other store employees subdued Webb and held him until police arrived, the Sheriff’s Department said.
At about the same time, police said they also responded to a call at the Webb home in Colton, about 12 miles away, where they found Webb’s mother dead. Webb lived with his parents, they said.
Police did not provide any details on what led to Tina Marie Webb’s murder. It was not immediately possible to contact Webb or identify an attorney representing him.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Andrew Hay)