{"id":186871,"date":"2026-03-11T06:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T06:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/186871\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T06:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T06:18:17","slug":"florida-car-wash-employees-catch-axe-wielding-man-deputies-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/186871\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida car wash employees catch axe-wielding man, deputies say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">MARION COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 An Ocala man armed with an axe was arrested after a \u201ccar wash conflict\u201d over the weekend, according to the Marion County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reel\/1483348943159396\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reel\/1483348943159396\">In a release<\/a>, deputies said the incident was reported on Sunday around 8:30 p.m. at the Tidal Wave Auto Spa along Southwest 95th Street Road.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Upon arrival, though, they said they found the suspect \u2014 identified as Bryce Thayer, 36 \u2014 being restrained by the 18-year-old victim.<\/p>\n<p>Bryce James Thayer, 36 (Marion County Sheriff&#8217;s Office)<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThayer was taken into custody, and the investigation revealed that he had approached two employees at the car wash as they were closing,\u201d the release reads. \u201cHe was told to leave the property, at which time Thayer became irate and approached the two victims in a threatening manner while wielding an axe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">However, the victim lunged at Thayer to disarm him, ultimately bringing him to the ground, deputies added. Meanwhile, the second victim managed to remove the axe from Thayer\u2019s grip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThe victim restrained Thayer until deputies arrived,\u201d the release continues. \u201cThe victim restrained Thayer until deputies arrived. He was placed under arrest, and a search revealed he was in possession of drug paraphernalia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Thayer now faces charges of possessing drug paraphernalia and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. He is held on bond of $65,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">[BELOW: Marion County mom arrested after 3-year-old girl beaten to death, deputies say]<\/p>\n<p>Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 kiwhtN\">Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARION COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 An Ocala man armed with an axe was arrested after a \u201ccar wash conflict\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[265,28,30,29,3833,2649,2546],"class_list":["post-186871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-crime","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-marion-county","tag-ocala","tag-strange-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}