Police Blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
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Suicide attempted after shoplifting
A Martinez woman tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills Friday evening after she was caught shoplifting from an Evans department store.
The loss-prevention employee for Kohl's, 4227 Washington Road, told police that between 9:35 and 9:45 p.m., he saw a 45-year-old woman load nearly $600 worth of merchandise into a bag, then leave the store. The employee followed the woman to a tan vehicle, where he demanded she return the merchandise.
She threatened to shoot the employee, who kicked the passenger window and shut the car door on the woman's fingers before recovering the merchandise.
Police traced the tag to a Martinez address, where they found the car. Officers saw a footprint on the car window, and the woman's fingers were swollen.
The employee identified the resident as the shoplifting suspect.
While police were in her home, she opened and took an entire bottle of morphine sulfate. Police could not get her to spit out the pills, so she was taken to University Hospital.
Man charged with punching walls
A Grovetown man was arrested Saturday on charges of damaging a woman's apartment while a baby sitter was with her children.
The woman said Robert James Gross, 24, of the 600 block of Bussey Road, damaged her apartment by punching holes in doors and walls.
Gross was charged with criminal damage to property and was released Monday from the Columbia County Detention Center after posting a $2,600 bond, according to jail records.
The woman said the baby sitter let Gross into the apartment, where he questioned the baby sitter about the mother's whereabouts. When the sitter said she didn't know, Gross became angry and started punching.
The sitter took the children to a nearby apartment and called police. They found Gross hiding in a bathroom. He had injuries to his right hand; damage to the apartment exceeded $500.
Fireworks damage park's trash cans
An Army Corps of Engineers park ranger called police Thursday after finding two trash containers in Appling damaged by what appeared to be fireworks.
The ranger said that about 9:30 a.m. Thursday he found the damaged trash cans at Lake Springs Drive and Clarks Hill Road. It appeared someone had detonated firecrackers inside them with the lids closed.
Woman charged with taking shrimp
An Augusta woman was arrested Monday morning on charges she stole shrimp from a supermarket.
Laura Felecia Gooden, 47, of the 3600 block of Audubon Place, was charged with misdemeanor shoplifting. She was held Tuesday in the Columbia County Detention Center on a $1,100 bond, according to jail records.
A manager of the Kroger at 4115 Columbia Road told police that just after 1 a.m. he saw Gooden conceal five bags of raw shrimp, worth $51.40, in her dress and leave the store.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue Activity Report for the week of Aug. 17-23:
Structure fire, one; wood/brush/grass fire, one; vehicle fire, one; controlled/unauthorized burn, one; dumpster fire, one; activated fire alarms, eight; medical incidents, 23; vehicle accidents, 10; gas line ruptures, four; weather damage, one; investigate various incidents, three; assist residents, one; and mutual aid/public safety assistance, two.