A San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department deputy was justified in shooting a suspect who lunged at the deputy and his partner with a box cutter following a failed Taser deployment at a Victorville grocery store four years ago, according to authorities.
Todderick Randall, 42, of Victorville was wounded in the encounter, which unfolded shortly after noon on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, at a WinCo foods at Roy Rogers Drive and Amargosa Road, sheriff’s officials said at the time.
He entered the store with a utility knife in his hand, locked into its open position, according to a use-of-force review issued last week by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office. Customers noticed the armed man in the store and reported it to store security, as well as the sheriff’s department.
Randall made his way to the liquor aisle and grabbed a bottle of premade margarita, officials said.
“Randall opened the margarita bottle and began consuming the beverage while pacing back and forth and stumbling in the aisle,” according to the report. “As Randall paced the liquor aisle, he held the utility knife in his right hand and the bottle in his left, taking long drinks from the bottle.”
‘Hey, why don’t you put the knife down?’
Deputies Cameron Stanley and Corrin Cassidy responded to the store and approached Randall.
The deputies first tried to reason with Randall, who was still clutching both the box cutter and the alcohol, from a distance of about 10 to 15 feet, according to district attorney’s officials.
“What’s up, man? Hey, do you mind just tossing that knife over to the side?” Stanley asked Randall, as recorded by the deputies’ belt-worn audio recorders. Randall didn’t comply.
“Hey, why don’t you put the knife down?” Stanley repeated, to not response.
Stanley then drew his sidearm while Cassidy drew her Taser, prosecutors said.
Taser deployment fails, shots fired
After again ordering Randall to drop the blade, Cassidy deployed her Taser, the report found.
“Randall dropped the bottle of alcohol, said, ‘[expletive] you,’ grabbed the Taser wires with his left hand, and pulled them,” according to the document. Randall began running through the store as the deputies chased after him while ordering him to get down on the ground.
Randall turned the corner at the end of an aisle and vanished from view, officials said.
“When Deputies Stanley and Cassidy rounded the end of the aisle, both were stunned to see Randall had stopped and turned to face the deputies,” the district attorney’s office report said.
“As the deputies attempted to stop, Randall, only five to eight feet away, lunged toward them with the knife above his head and slashed the knife at the deputies,” the report continued. “Deputy Stanley fired his handgun while Deputy Cassidy fired her Taser at Randall. Randall was struck by gunfire and fell to the ground.”Randall was rushed to a hospital by helicopter for medical treatment and ultimately arrested.
He pleaded “no contest” in June 2025 to a charge of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer likely to result in great bodily injury, and also admitted to a sentence-enhancing special allegation of having a prior serious felony conviction, San Bernardino County Superior Court records show. He was sentenced to six years in state prison.
The district attorney’s office concluded that the shooting was legal.
“Based on the facts presented in the reports and the applicable law, Deputy Stanley’s use of deadly force was a proper exercise of Deputy Stanley’s right of self-defense and defense of others, and therefore, his actions were legally justified,” the report said.
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This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Deputy justified in shooting of knife-wielding man at Victorville WinCo
Reporting by Brian Day, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brian Day, Victorville Daily Press | USA TODAY Network
