New Jersey town increasing police presence after violent liquor store attack
LINDEN, New Jersey (WABC) -- A brutal attack at a liquor store in New Jersey was caught on camera and police have released video of the suspect they are looking for.
The attack happened at Beno's Liquor store on North Wood Avenue in Linden on November 30.
The suspect apparently did not have enough money when buying liquor and started hurling large bottles of wine at three clerks.
Two workers suffered injuries and the attack caused $3,000 worth of damage.
The man walked out with several bottles of alcohol he was after, authorities said.
Police posted video of the incident on their social media looking for help identifying the man.
The clerk who was attacked was not comfortable speaking on camera. But a regular customer said it is a quiet downtown, and things like this normally don't happen.
"It's probably obvious that he has some sort of mental health issues. I don't want to speculate, but that seems to be what occurred," Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said.
Armstead went to the store to spend time with the clerk, who told him there had been concerns.
"They did mention that lately they've had a few situations inside the store," Armstead said.
The store is in a popular and busy shopping stretch just a few hundred feet away from the trains.
Armstead said crime is not out of hand in Linden, though it has its share, but they are adding more protection to hopefully prevent issues.
"Going forward we'll make sure we have a bigger police presence on Wood Avenue, in fact what we're doing with our our rookie police officers, we're having them walk the beat here to increase the police presence on Wood Avenue," Armstead said.
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