Man Attacks Encinitas Home Depot Employee With Knife; Arrested at Gunpoint: Sheriff

Encinitas, CA — A man who allegedly threw a knife at an Encinitas Home Depot employee Friday, injuring the man, was jailed on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, an official with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said.

Deputies from the North Coastal Sheriff's Station discovered the employee bleeding from his upper leg when they responded to the store located at 1001 N. El Camino Real upon receiving reports of a person driving "recklessly at very high speed in the Home Depot parking lot," according to sheriff's Sgt. Scott Bligh.

"Before deputies arrived, witnesses reported the subject had attacked a Home Depot employee with a knife," Bligh said. "The subject had thrown a folding blade knife at an employee who was watering plants outside the garden center portion of the store."

The knife struck the employee's upper leg, causing a minor stab wound with bleeding, Bligh said. An off-duty paramedic who happened to be at the store gave the employee first aid until he could be transported to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla for further treatment, according to the sergeant.

Meanwhile, deputies caught up with the suspect — identified as 34-year-old Sean Burton — inside the store, where they confronted him at gunpoint and took him into custody, Bligh said.

Burton was booked into the Vista Detention Facility at 3:19 p.m. Friday, jail records show. He was being held in lieu of $30,000 bail, with arraignment scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

The injured employee has since been released from the hospital, Bligh said.

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