Marion County Sheriff’s deputy deploys taser on woman with knife in Walmart

MARION COUNTY, Fla. (WWSB) - A Marion County Sheriff deputy was forced to deploy his taser on a woman in a Walmart.

At around 1:30 p.m., Wednesday Mar. 30, Deputy Christopher Witte and Property Crimes Detective Pamela Thomas responded to the Walmart1 in Summerfield. Store managers told officials that a woman, identified as Brandy McGowan, was threatening customers and store employees with a brick and a knife.

When Deputy Witte and Detective Thomas arrived, they located McGowan in the clothing department, wielding a pocket knife and making incoherent statements. Witte repeatedly instructed McGowan to drop the knife, but she ignored those commands.

After several attempts to get her to drop the knife, Deputy Witte deployed his taser, which successfully disarmed McGowan and provided an opportunity to place her in handcuffs.

Through the investigation, it was learned that McGowan entered the business wielding a brick and began threatening customers as she was walking around. She then located a pocket knife for sale and began opening the packaging with a pair of scissors from the store. Once the knife was open, she continued to threaten employees and customers until Deputy Witte and Detective Thomas arrived.

After McGowan was arrested, it was discovered that she ingested approximately four grams of methamphetamine earlier in the day. She was first transported to the hospital for evaluation.

Upon her release from the hospital, McGowan was transported to the Marion County Jail, where she remains.

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