He would then tell the victims that he had just given them coronavirus.
Police are looking for a man who they say approached several strangers at a Walmart and hugged them before telling them he had just given them coronavirus.
The incident happened on Saturday, Aug. 15, at about 7:10 p.m., at a Walmart branch in Springfield, Massachusetts, when the man apparently began randomly approaching customers and killed them.
According to the Springfield Police Detective Bureau, the suspect was pictured at the Walmart location wearing a black t-shirt and camouflage shorts as he approached people and gave them the hostile hugs.
“This suspect took an article from a victim’s hand and then gave him a hug,” the Springfield Police Department said in a post shared on social media. ‘He told the victim’ just give you a COVID hug. You now have COVID. ‘”
Authorities say the suspect then started laughing before leaving.
The victim, who was not identified by police, is a cancer survivor and had never seen the suspect before.
Police say he had done this to other customers earlier and it is not known if the man actually had coronavirus at the time of the incident.
According to Masslive.com, the suspect is now being sought for assault and battery and creating terrorist threats.
However, even if the man did not test positive for COVID-19, saying he did and approached people in a threatening manner could be a threat under the Massachusetts state law.
Massachusetts’s state law states that anyone who directly or indirectly, verbally, in writing “or in any other way” communicates a threat, can be accused of creating terrorist threats.
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