Man Who Stabbed 11 At MI Walmart ID'ed, Will Be Charged With Terrorism: Police

GARFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI — Authorities on Sunday named the man who attacked 11 people with a knife at a Walmart in northern Michigan and provided information about which charges he will face.

Bradford James Gille, 42, of Afton, was in custody at the Grand Traverse County jail on suspicion of one count of terrorism and 11 counts of assault with intent to murder, according to the county sheriff’s office, which said Gille has a history of violent and drug-related incidents.

His motive for Saturday’s attack remained unknown Sunday, police said.

County Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg told reporters that the terrorism charge will be brought because the attack impacted the community, rather than one individual.

"It's something that is done not to individual people, not to those individual victims — obviously they are most affected — but it is, we believe, in some ways done to affect the entire community, to put fear in the entire community and to change how maybe we operate on a daily basis," Moeggenberg said. "So that is why we are looking at that terrorism charge.”

The mass stabbing occurred around 4:45 p.m. at the store in Garfield Township, police said. When a sheriff’s deputy arrived three minutes later, Gille had been confronted by civilians — one of whom was armed with a pistol — who stopped him in the parking lot and kept him from leaving or hurting anyone else, according to police.

Steven Carter was loading his truck in the lot when he saw a man with a knife stab a woman in the throat.

About five minutes later, he said, the attacker was surrounded by shoppers, including one who was holding a gun. The group of five or six people kept yelling to the man to "drop the knife," he said, and the man responded: "I don't care, I don't care." He kept backing away from the crowd, before someone tackled and subdued him.

Gille was at the store for about 30 minutes before he began stabbing people with a 3.5-inch blade, police said, adding the victims ranged in age from 29-84 and included six men and five women. One was a Walmart employee, according to police.

As of Sunday afternoon, one victim had been released from the hospital, eight were in fair condition and two were in serious condition, according to Munson Healthcare.

Walmart said in a statement that it would continue to work closely with law enforcement in the investigation. It said store associates would be paid while the store remains closed and that counseling services would be made available to them. It wasn't known when the store would reopen.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.