Man Arrested After Allegedly Threatening To Kill Victim In Peninsula Parking Garage

By Bay City News Service:

A man carrying a small knife was arrested late Sunday in Palo Alto after allegedly using a racial epithet against a black man and threatening to kill him inside a parking garage, police said Monday.

Tony Smith, 61, of Mountain View, was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of felony criminal threats and a hate crime and misdemeanor possession of methamphetamine, police said.

The victim phoned police at 11:47 p.m. from a business in the 500 block of Ramona Street to report that a possible carjacking attempt occurred in a parking lot at 539 Emerson St., according to police.

Officers responded to the area and located a suspect standing outside the business, holding a knife with a 2-inch blade in his hand. They arrested the suspect, later identified as Smith, without incident, officers said.

The victim, a black man in his 30s, told officers that he was sitting in his car with the engine running in the Emerson Street lot when a stranger approached and opened the car’s passenger door, police said. The suspect told the man that he had a gun and that the victim was going to die.

The victim did not see a gun but exited the car, with the engine still running, and backed away, according to police. The stranger then used a racial slur and repeated that the victim was going to die.

The victim, who left his cellphone in his car, then went to a business to call police, police said. It appeared that the suspect had followed the man, although he did not attempt to steal the car, police said.

Police recovered a quantity of methamphetamine from Smith’s belongings but he was not carrying a gun, according to police.

Anyone with details about the incident may call the Palo Alto Police Department’s 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.