South OC Man Charged With Axe Attacks In Lake Forest

LAKE FOREST, CA — A Trabuco Canyon man was arrested on Monday, May 22, after he allegedly drove into a house in Lake Forest before fleeing his car, getting a pickaxe and chasing down two men with the weapon.

Alarming camera footage captured the scene unfolding as the man, identified by authorities as 32-year-old Tyler Scott Graves, repeatedly slammed the pickaxe into the closed door of a Lake Forest home.

Graves faces several charges, including three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, all felonies, as well as three counts of brandishing a weapon and single counts of resisting arrest and hit and run with property damage, all misdemeanors. He made his first appearance in court for the case Wednesday in the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, but his arraignment was rescheduled for June 16.

Graves crashed a car into a house in the 22000 block of Robin Street late Monday morning, according to Sgt. Michael Woodroof of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Deputies were dispatched to the crash scene at 11:54 a.m. Monday.

Graves allegedly ran from the crash about 100 yards away to where he was living in the 22000 block of Pheasant Street, where he found the axe and chased a gardener around before storming upstairs into the house and slamming the weapon against the door of a roommate until he smashed his way in, Woodroof said.

The roommate managed to convince Graves to hand over the axe, but the defendant got it back just as deputies were arriving, Woodroof said.

Deputies ordered Graves to drop the axe, but he refused, prompting deputies to use shotgun bean-bag rounds and a taser to subdue him, according to Woodroof.

Graves was taken to a hospital to be treated for a wound from the crash and was later booked, Woodroof said. Before he began residing in the Pheasant Street home, Graves was living in Trabuco Canyon, the sergeant added.

No injuries were reported in the alleged attacks.

Graves has two prior felony strikes that could factor into increasing his punishment if he is convicted, according to court records.

Graves pleaded guilty in October 2014 to three counts of robbery and a count of burglary, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of possession of burglary tools, loitering on private property, receiving stolen property, shoplifting and petty theft. He also pleaded guilty at that time in a separate case to a felony count of burglary.

While the investigation is ongoing, Orange County Sheriff's deputies asked residents with information to contact the OCSD at 714-647-7000.