Walmart employee fatally stabbed in random attack by man who allegedly believed victim was a 'demon': police

A Walmart employee was fatally stabbed during a late-night shift in a seemingly random attack, and the man told police he believed he was killing a "demon" that had been stalking him.

Officers arrived within roughly a minute and encountered the suspect, later identified as 37-year-old Zeddrick Ross, still armed with a knife.

Police said officers issued multiple commands for the man to drop the weapon, but he refused and advanced toward an officer. One officer fired a single shot that missed the suspect, and a second officer deployed a Taser.

Ross was then taken into custody and was booked into the Faulkner County Detention Center. Police said that no one else was injured.

Investigators said Ross was not employed by Walmart, did not know Drinkwater and had no known interaction with her prior to the attack, in what police described as an apparently random act of violence. The investigation remains ongoing.

The affidavit revealed that Ross told police he had stolen the knife earlier and had gone to the store intending to obtain another weapon. An officer who discharged a firearm during the encounter has been placed on administrative leave, a routine step following an officer-involved shooting, the department said.

According to records from the Independence County District Court, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Ross' criminal history includes a 2020 theft misdemeanor charge and conviction and a 2022 obstructing governmental operations in Faulkner County District Court conviction. In 2022, he was sentenced to one year of probation.

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