Man harassing teen Subway worker stabs 2 people trying to help her, Missouri cops say
A teen employee working a shift at Subway started to feel uncomfortable when a man entered the sandwich shop and started “acting paranoid and erratic,” Missouri police said.
The man, identified as Patricio Jose Padilla, asked the girl to look at his money and “sprinted” in and out of the store on Feb. 3, St. James police said.
When Padilla started to say “cryptic things” to the teen, she went next door to a laundromat to ask for help, the employee told police.
The worker at the laundromat came into the Subway and observed his behavior, police said, and then tried to escort the man out of the establishment as another person held the door.
Padilla broke away and started to run to the employee-only section of the store, according to a probable cause statement. The teen girl was in the area with another juvenile employee that had just arrived at work, police said, so one person restrained Padilla.
That’s when Padilla lunged and stabbed the man that held the door open, police said. Then, he swung his arm back and stabbed the person restraining him, police said.
Police found the first man with a stab wound in his lower back that was bleeding heavily. He was airlifted to a hospital.
The man restraining him had a stab wound in his hand, according to court documents.
Padilla told police that he believed someone was in the employees-only area and he wanted to record it, so he tried to go behind the register, documents said.
The man was arrested and charged with harassment, assault and armed criminal action, court documents said. His attorney information was not listed.
He’s held in Phelps County jail on a $250,000 bond, according to court records. Padilla is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 6.
St. James is a 220-mile drive southeast from Kansas City.
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Man harassing teen Subway worker stabs 2 people trying to help her, Missouri cops say."
