SPRINGFIELD – Police are seeking the help of the public in identifying a man who bought strangers to strangers at Walmart and then telling them he just gave them COVID-19, police said.
According to police, the unidentified man walked up to a man in the Boston Road store, took an item from the man’s hands and then gave him a hug.
He told the victim, ‘Just give yourself a COVID hug. You now have COVID. He then laughed and walked away.
This was reported to have happened on August 15 at about 7 p.m.
The victim, a cancer survivor, was not amused and reported it to police. He said he had never seen the man before.
The man repeated this activity with other customers in the store, according to police.
Police spokesman Ryan Walsh said police do not consider it a laughing matter.
The man is wanted for assault and battery and creating terrorist threats. The charge of attack and battery combines threatening behavior with physical contact.
Under Massachusetts’s state law, anyone who directly, indirectly, orally, in writing “or in any other way” communicates a threat, can be accused of making terrorist threats.
Even if the unknown man did not test positive for COVID-19, saying he could pose a threat. Walsh said it would be tantamount to making a false bomb threat if there was no bomb.
View of the store shows a Black or Latino man with short dark hair, dressed in gray camouflage shorts, black sneakers, and a black shirt with the word Aero printed on the front. He was also wearing a mask.
Those with information should call the Detective Bureau at 413-787-6355, leave a private message on the department’s Facebook page, or send an anonymous Text-A-Tip to CRIMES (2-7-4-6-3-7 ), start the message with the word SOLVE.
Related content:
