9/25 Rockville, MD Customer Assaults Employee at Best Buy

Giovanna Saenz, 41, the managing director of a Community Ministries organization, was charged with three counts of second-degree assault and resisting arrest after a dispute over a refund with a customer service representative. She was in a Best Buy, trying to return an MP3 player but when she was refused, she became enraged and threw two MP3 players and a CD player, striking an employee. After police arrived, she refused to leave. When officers tried to escort her, she struck him on the face with an open right hand and knocked down an employee en route to the door, according to the charges. She was then apprehended by police and charged with assault.

9/26 Port Washington, NY Man Takes Teenager from Workplace Whom He Met On-Line

Daniel Gillott, 37, was charged with with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse when he took a teen-ager from work place and assaulted her. They had met on-line and exchanged e-mails. He was able to figure out where she worked through her extensive online profile. Gillott waited until the teenager went outside for a break, at around 4 p.m. He approached her, engaged her in a conversation, then allegedly lured the girl into his car through threats and had inappropriate and forcible sexual contact with her. It's unclear whether the girl returned to her job after the alleged attack, but that night she told her parents about the incident, and they called police and filed a report. He was arrested 3 days later.

10/18 North Lauderdale, Fla. Woman Stabs Co-Worker over Microwave Use

A south Florida woman stabbed another female co-worker as they worked at a Walgreens store. The pair, 20 and 23, had an ongoing dispute that came to a head. The offender used a large kitchen knife and stabbed the other in the abdomen over a fight about use of the workplace microwave oven. The two fought over the knife until the store manager managed to separate them and sent to separate hospitals.

10/21 Syosset, NY Man Stabs Boss with Steak Knife

Darlin Fajardo, 35, stabbed his boss, Robert Sisia, 51, on a Friday morning at Tassone Equipment Corp. The two began to argue around 12 Noon though it is not yet known what the two were fighting about. Fajardo used a steak knife when he struck Sisia in the chest, killing him. He then drove away and is sought by police. According to accounts, Fajardo had a bad temper and got upset a lot, fighting with other workers often.

Waitress Denied UI Benefits after Fired for Horse-play

Susan C. Medeiros, who had worked for 22 years as a hostess at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, was fired July 30, 2000, after she jokingly placed her hands around the throat of a co-worker and shook her for about five seconds. Recently, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that she would not be eligible for unemployment benefits under state law. The situation was that a co-worker who was dissatisfied with a work schedule complained, and as a result, many workers found their schedules changed. The incident that got Medeiros fired was fairly unremarkable to anyone who's ever worked in a restaurant. Medeiros, a senior hostess, came up behind the co-worker, put her hands around her neck and shook her lightly while laughingly saying, "It's all because of you." The co-worker reported the incident to a manager and Medeiros was fired. Her employer’s stance is that her conduct was in deliberate disregard of the standards of behavior which they expect of all employees.

10/23 Lake Worth, FLa Man Attacks Ex-Wife with Butcher Cleaver at Market

Rudolph Burke, 48, was charged with attempted first-degree murder when he attacked his ex-wife at her workplace. Merl Samuels was working at the Lake Worth Drive-in market when her ex-husband arrived around 12:30 p.m. He attaked her with a butcher cleaver, striking her in the neck, face and leg before trying to run off. Witnesses tackled him and held him down till law enforcement arrived. She is fair condition.

10/14 Durham, NC Duke Professor Charged with Simple Assault of Employee

Dr. Samuel Wells, 69 and a professor of surgery for the Duke University School of Medicine, was arrested for allegedly grabbing the arm of a female Duke employee. He was apparently attempting to restrain her from leaving on her way to work, according to the warrant and arrest report. The incident took place at 6:27 a.m. and the victim called the police who took her to the magistrate’s office. The relationship between Wells and his accuser and the circumstances surrounding the event are unknown.

10/14 Hickory, NC Man Shoots Wife at her Job in Hospital

Howard McGrady, 62, walked into the outpatient unit of Frye Regional Medical Center and shot at his wife, Judy McGrady 3 times with a .44 magnum revolver. She had left him earlier in the week for unknown reasons. She working her job as a transcriptionist when he found her at her office which is off a hallway that leads from the common waiting area. It was around 10:40 am when he stood in the hallway, outside her office and started firing. Co-workers tackled him and held him till security arrived. Fortunately as the assault occurred in a hospital, she was able to receive quick emergency care and is expected to recover.

10/14 Orlando, FL Man Points Sub-Machine Gun at Wife at Wal-Mart

Jose D. Hernandez, 37, walked into his wife’s workplace at approximately 5 pm in the evening and pointed a Tech-9, an assault rifle that is easily adapted to be fully automatic. It was at her Wal-Mart store when he found her, pointed the "now legal" assault rifle and pulled the trigger but it did not fire. He was later found inside a home by officers. As he was trying to load the weapon while ordered to drop it, he was killed by the responding officers. There had been more than 20 previous domestic disturbance calls to their home in the past and a recent one lead to an appointed with a prosecutor to file charges against him. But as she did not show up for the meeting, charges where never filed.

10/12 Trinidad Man Stabs Wife to Death at Gas Station

Rooplal Nandlal, 42, was charged with stabbing to death his wife Radha, 41, at an NP Quik Shoppe gas station where she worked as a cleaner. She was stabbed times in the neck, chest and arms and died as her lungs and liver were punctured. The attacked occurred during the work day as dozens of people saw her die.

10/10 Clinton, MD Man Sets Wife on Fire at Cell Phone Store

Roger Brian Hargrave, 33, was charged with attempted murder and assault when he attempted to burn Yvette Cade to death. Witnesses stated that he entered a cellular telephone store in and confronted Mrs. Cade, who was trying to end their abusive marriage. He threw gasoline on her and then set her on fire. Cade tried to obtain a restraining order in August but the order was rescinded last month when the judge decided that there was not enough evidence of a physical threat. She is expected to recover.

10/7 Edgewater, MD Man Kills Ex-Girlfriend’s Boss and Associate at Mortgage Firm

Michael Wayne Baxter Jr., 30, shot and killed Kenneth Brian Kertesz, 43, and wounded William Augustus Snow, 44, who was not an employee but an associate also present. He then drove his truck to a nearby drugstore and killed himself. The shooting, which occurred at Universal Mortgage and Finance, was committed just before 3:30 pm. A Prince George’s county police spokesman stated that the shooting was domestic in nature, but did not elaborate. Other sources state the shooting was a result of a breakup between Michael Wayne Baxter and Erin McLaughlin, an employee of mortgage firm. On the day of the tragedy, McLaughlin wasn't at work, but Baxter still came to the firm to commit the assault.

10/7 Houston, TX Ex-Employee Returns to Kill Employer During Robbery

Kevin Christian Martin, 26, a fired Jason's Deli employee, returned with two friends with plans to rob his former workplace and ended up killing his former boss, Ryan David Martin, 29 (no relation). Kevin was fired him less than two weeks earlier for using a customer's credit card. Testimony revealed that Martin recruited two friends to burglarize the deli while it was closed and steal money from the safe but when they arrived, the owner was inside working. Although Ryan Martin, who had two young children, did not resist, he was shot in the neck and died in a back office, testimony revealed.

10/5 West Palm Beach, FL Employer Shot by Ex-Boyfriend of Employee during Rosh Hashanah Services

Marc Benayers, 79, shot Jonathan Samuels, 44, at a synagogue during Rosh Hashanah prayer service. While this was not at either man’s employment, a job-related relation was the source of the dispute. Samuals was the employer of Maria Pinto, Benayer’s ex-girlfriend. Benayer had allegedly been stalking and threatening her for months, as well as her 16-year-old daughter and her two bosses. Despite the threatening letters and numerous calls to police, allegedly they weren't able to get Benanyer arrested. At work, it became as issue as "She was always crying, always howling at her desk," said Mark Levy, Samuel’s business partner. They had tried to help their employee leave her abusive relationship and even assisted in her application for a restraining order and obtaining full ownership of her home. According to family members, Benayers came to the temple with a gun and called Samuels out of the temple. He then tried to talk it over once more but when he walked away, Samuals was shot in the back twice. He is in critical condition. While being taken into custody Tuesday by Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies, Benayer stated, “(he) got a restraining order against me. . .He is the mastermind, the engineer of my destruction.”

FL Bill to Allow Workers to Bring Gun to Work

Two state lawmakers, backed by the National Rifle Association, have filed bills in the Florida legislature that would allow workers to have guns at work, as long as the weapons remain locked in their vehicles. With this particular bill, employers could even face up to 5 years in prison if they try to stop employees from bringing guns to work in their cars. The bill, HB 129 and SB 206, will be introduced in the 2006 legislative year which starts in March. Additional language attempts to allievate businesses concerns by shielding companies from lawsuits should an employee commit a crime with the gun kept in a car on company property. Thus even if a company should know of a threat to coworkers, as long as the gun came from the perpetrators car in the employee lot, they would be immune to civil action. Most of the major employers in Florida have a no-weapons policy.