Santa Monica Pier Stabbing: Homeless Man Allegedly Demanded Food

SANTA MONICA, CA — Attempted murder and other charges were filed Friday against a homeless man who allegedly stabbed an employee of a restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier after unsuccessfully demanding free food.

Calvin Earl Gullett, 34, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles on one count each of attempted murder and petty theft and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

The criminal complaint alleges that Gullett inflicted great bodily injury and that the probationer has prior convictions for residential burglary in 2002 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and in Los Angeles for second-degree burglary and criminal threats earlier this year.

Gullett entered Pier Burger at 330 Santa Monica Pier about 10:50 a.m. Wednesday and demanded food from employees, but was denied, according to Santa Monica police Lt. Saul Rodriguez.

Gullett allegedly then went back to the restaurant's kitchen area and stabbed an employee, then chased after two others with a knife that he had stolen from a retail store earlier in the day, according to prosecutors.

Responding officers found him on the beach just north of the pier.

"The suspect did not comply with officers and a Taser was deployed to make an arrest," Rodriguez said, adding that "evidence of the crime was located nearby."

If convicted as charged, he could face up to 48 years to life in state prison, according to the District Attorney's Office.

— City News Service, photo courtesy of the SMPD