WATCH: Man streaks through Warwick Wal-Mart, witness said she was 'panicked'

Posted 6/7/12

Last night police apprehended a naked man running through the Warwick Wal-Mart in the former Rhode Island Mall.

Brittany Wardell, a West Warwick resident, was waiting in the check out line at the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

WATCH: Man streaks through Warwick Wal-Mart, witness said she was 'panicked'

Posted

Last night police apprehended a naked man running through the Warwick Wal-Mart in the former Rhode Island Mall.

Brittany Wardell, a West Warwick resident, was waiting in the check out line at the store around 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening when she heard a man yelling.

She looked towards the front of the store to see a man who was later identified as Michael Ray tearing off his clothes, first his shirt and then his pants. Ray proceeded to walk towards the check out area where he stood screaming. He then removed his underwear.

Another man approached the screaming, naked Ray, urging him to calm down. Ray then began to run around the store, still screaming.

“You could hear him screaming all around the store,” said Wardell. “I didn’t want to make eye contact with him because I didn’t want him to eat my face, like that guy in Florida.”

An intercom announcement told all customers to move to the front of the store.

Wardell said Ray's screams got louder as he made a loop around the store and approached the check out area. She watched him run out the front door of the Wal-Mart, and many customers followed to watch where the man went.

Ray hopped over a guardrail and into the Pawtuxet River, behind the Rhode Island Mall. After swimming across the river, he made his way to Rt. 295 where police finally apprehended him. He is now at Kent Hospital. Reports say Ray, a recent graduate of URI with a second degree, suffers from bi-polar disorder, and may have been off his medication.

“I was panicked,” said Wardell. “A little scared. You get into survivor mode. I was watching him because if he was going to walk through one of the aisles, I put my cart sideways so I could block my boyfriend and myself from him.”

Comments

3 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • maggie123

    REALLY, did you have to print his name and diagnosis? What ever happened to privacy issues. Love the statement "may have been off his medication", he also MAY have had a reaction to it. The man is clearly ill why make it worse for him by printing his name and illness in his hometown paper. The mentally ill should be protected by the press like minors. REPORTS say??? Well Reports,(friend, family or hospital employee) you clearly hit below the belt in my opinion. There was absolutely no need to report his name, diagnosis, and where he graduated from to the Beacon...REALLY!

    Friday, June 8, 2012 Report this

  • perky4175

    this guy should have been shot we dont need people like that running around maybe they will waite till he kills some body

    the walmart security was no help

    Friday, June 8, 2012 Report this

  • sommer

    Anyone not knowing the facts and saying this guy should be shot is the type of people that does not belong in the USA. This is not Iraq. Also, by the way this person making this comment spells, one can tell they are not very educated. If we had to shoot all the people out there with a mental illness then the world would only have a hand full of people left. The man was NOT charged because there where NO drugs or the infamous Bath Salt as everyone would love to believe (because the media loves to create a story to get you to read or watch). This was just a sick man Mentally and Physically who had an attack in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mental illness is not an epidemic as one TV station tried to say (Guess it was a slow news week) it is just as written, an illness. The person who wrote, he should be shot and saying don't need people like that, is marking all people that suffer and don't ask for a mental illness, that is a direct attack. This is a travesty that the media put his name and information out there. This man has a family that I am sure loves him, sick and all. Just saying, KNOW THE FACTS BEFORE YOU JUDGE, THERE IS ALWAYS MORE TO THE STORY THAN WHAT YOU HEAR AND IT IS PROBABLY NOT THE DRAMA YOU WISH FOR BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE A LIFE.

    Wednesday, June 13, 2012 Report this