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Pickaxe-wielding man in Lake Forest goes on rampage and attacks two people

Pickaxe-wielding man tries to break into roommate's room in Lake Forest
Pickaxe-wielding man tries to break into roommate's room in Lake Forest 02:28

Despite his enraged roommate wildly swinging a pickaxe, a Lake Forest man mustered up the courage to put an end to his inexplicable rampage Monday.

"I was just trying to keep him calm and just end the aggression," the roommate said in an interview with Inside Edition. "When I felt like that was working, I got up off of him and grabbed the ax and bolted." 

Minutes earlier around the corner on Robin Street, the same suspect crashed his car into a retaining wall and nearly smashed through the master bedroom. Neighbors say the culprit who has only lived here less than two weeks, ran away and back to his rental. 

That's when they said he found the pickaxe and started swinging. 

"The poor owner, he was in his pajamas running barefoot in the streets trying to get away from him," said neighbor Vicky Bock. "And one of the renters in one of the bedrooms was being attacked by this perpetrator with a pickaxe trying to knock down the door. He got out. He called 911 and was able to escape and then run down the street."

Deputies arrived shortly after and can be heard shouting commands directing the enraged man to drop the pickaxe. Officials said he did not comply. They fired less-than-lethal bean bag rounds so he could be taken into custody. 

"We heard somebody screaming inside the house it was the guy getting his room broken into," said witness Andrew Lopez. "And then we were going to go in. And the cops and then they pull out their guns."

Sgt. Mike Woodruff from the Orange County Sheriff's Department said the suspect was in a position of threat toward another person. 

Wednesday, the suspect was identified as Tyler Scott Graves, 32, of Trabuco Canyon. He is charged with assault with a deadly weapon, exhibiting a deadly weapon, and resisting a peace officer.

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