A woman attacked a CVS employee with bear spray, which also hit a nearby customer, after getting kicked out of the North Berkeley store for stealing Wednesday, police said.
A 911 caller first reported the attack at the pharmacy at 1451 Shattuck Ave. shortly after 6 p.m., according to Berkeley police.
The woman, whom a CVS employee recognized as someone who had stolen items before, went to the store with a child; the employee saw her “concealing merchandise in her tote bag” and “told her to leave,” police spokesperson Officer Byron White wrote in an email.
The woman left with her child, but returned with bear spray — which is chemically similar to pepper spray — using it on a different worker, police said. Some of the spray “also landed on a 76-year-old customer in the checkout line,” White wrote. Berkeley Fire Department medics treated both people at the scene.
Police were still looking for the woman as of Thursday.
Featured photo credit: The Associated Press/Rogelio V. Solis
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Alex N. Gecan joined Berkeleyside in 2023 as a senior reporter covering public safety. He has covered criminal justice, courts and breaking and local news for The Middletown Press, Stamford Advocate and…
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