Lakewood, NJ – Authorities are searching for a man who was brandishing a machete and screaming profanities outside a building on Monmouth Avenue Thursday evening.
Police were called to Monmouth Avenue near 9th Street about 8:30 p.m. Thursday for a report of a man with a machete, Capt. Gregory Staffordsmith said Friday.
A witness told Officer Felix Rivera that the man had chased someone down the street toward a new construction site, but a search by Rivera and other officers did not turn up the suspect or anything else, they said.
The person who called in the report told police he had walked out of the building at 901 Monmouth Ave. and saw the man standing on the opposite side of 9th Street, wearing a ski mask and playing music loudly from a portable speaker, Staffordsmith said.
When the suspect saw the caller, he began screaming profanities at the caller, Staffordsmith said. The caller went back in the building and told a friend; the friend told police that he looked out the door and saw the suspect about 20 feet away, waving a machete and continuing to yell, Staffordsmith said.
The suspect left before police arrived, but police searched the area thoroughly, including what Staffordsmith said was a “systematic evacuation and search of 901 Monmouth Avenue.”
Staffordsmith said the man was last seen walking east on 9th Street. He is described as approximately 5-foot-10, with a heavy set build and wearing a white and purple jacket.
