An employee of Publix Supermarket on Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota is recovering after she was stabbed by someone in the store on Thursday morning.
Sarasota County deputies were called to the grocery store around 10:13 a.m. for reports of a shoplifting. While they were on the way, they learned it involved a stabbing.
Witnesses say the employee, 57-year-old Tulin Grant, was trying to stop 29-year-old Corey D. Scogin from shoplifting when Scogin stabbed Grant in the back of the neck.
However, police say theft was not involved in the incident and that the stabbing appears to be random.
In an email to ABC Action News, Grant disputes what witnesses saw. She says she followed Publix policy not to try to stop a shoplifting suspect.
Detectives say after Scogin stabbed the employee, he then stabbed himself several times before running south on Maceachen Boulevard toward an apartment complex.
"The suspect was interacting in some capacity with a store employee. We don't know if it was a confrontation or what it was, but the suspect ended up stabbing the employee one time in the back of her neck," sheriff's spokeswoman Kaitlyn Johnson said.
Deputies arrested Scogin and a K-9 unit found the knife used during the incident at a nearby tennis court.
Scogin and Grant were both taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital for treatment. Grant was released from the hospital and the suspect remains in stable condition.
Scogin is charged with Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon and is expected to appear before a judge Friday afternoon.
