Three Dead, Three Wounded In Supermarket Sword Attack
Grocery Chain Will Assist Victims' Families, Provide Counseling

UPDATED: 5:11 p.m. PDT June 30, 2003

IRVINE, Calif. -- Police shot and killed a sword-wielding man described by relatives as schizophrenic after he slashed and killed two former co-workers and wounded three other people at an Albertsons where he used to bag groceries.

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Slayings By Sword
Deadly Supermarket Sword Rampage
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Dozens of shoppers ran from the supermarket shortly after 9:30 a.m. Sunday as police rushed in to subdue Joseph Hunter Parker, who was stalking victims with a samurai-style sword and wearing a beret and trenchcoat.

Employees armed with barbecue utensils, mayonnaise jars and trashcan lids said they tried to corner Parker and stop the bloody rampage. But Parker roamed the store quietly and calmly, attacking with a 3-foot blade.

Supermarket Attack Victims Were Longtime, Well-Liked Workers

The bloodletting ended when Parker confronted an officer on aisle 11 and police shot him, Lt. Jeff Love said.

The 30-year-old had already killed two longtime employees, Judith Fleming and John Nutting, Albertsons spokeswoman Stacia Levenfeld said Monday.

Fleming, 55, had worked for Albertsons 28 years and Nutting, 60, had worked there 42 years, Levenfeld said. Both were within a year of retirement, friends and family members said.

"There were trails of blood everywhere. People were running. A lady was screaming," Javier Ascencio of Irvine said.

"I was yelling at the top of my lungs for everyone to get out of the store," said Ascencio, who grabbed a metal chair and followed Parker from aisle to aisle.

"It looked like he was going after employees and anyone who tried to help the employees."

Fleming was looking forward to spending more time with her husband David, her junior-high sweetheart, and relaxing at a friend's Lake Havasu cabin. Nutting was working on the day of his death so another employee could go to church.

Witnesses said Parker nearly beheaded Fleming and killed Nutting by stabbing him in the torso.

"This man got up this morning, went to work, kissed his wife goodbye, and from what I hear, he's gone. I'm just devastated," Albertsons employee Denese Ecker said of Nutting.

Another Albertsons employee and two customers suffered moderate to serious slash and stab wounds and were taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. Police did not release their names, and their conditions could not immediately be determined Monday.

"Obviously the main thrust right now is putting together the chronology of what happened," Love said Monday. The store was set to reopen Tuesday morning.

Parker's mother said the Santa Ana man collected swords and was a fan of the "Highlander" film and television series in which the hero is a swordsman. Levenfeld said Parker was a current store employee, but co-workers said he'd recently stopped coming to his job after working at Albertsons for about two years.

"I never felt threatened, but he was just a really odd man," said Mark Ming, 26. "He would have full conversations with himself. He obviously had problems, but he was respectful toward customers."

Karl Wieduwilt, 24, had a grim premonition.

"I joke around on days I come in here and say he's going to shoot people up," Wieduwilt said. "I had this weird feeling inside that this was going to happen and look. It's amazing."

The grocery chain expressed sorrow in a statement and said it would assist victims' families and provide counseling to employees.

"I'm still in shock. I'm sickened for the people, and for him," said Parker's former roommate, April Hart.

Love called the attacks an aberration in the quiet city 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles, which he said averages less than one murder a year. About 143,000 people live here.

Parker was raised in rural Ford, Va., and had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, his mother, Susan Davis, said in an interview Sunday. She said he had been sexually assaulted by a relative as a child.

"He was not in a good state at all," Davis said, adding she had not spoken to Parker in about a year.

"He said voices were telling him to do bad things."

Davis said her son moved to California about five years ago in hopes of making a new life. She said he took one sword with him, leaving the remainder with her.

Parker's sister, Heather Parker, 28, of Anaheim, said she hadn't spoken to her brother in several months.

"I'm sorry," she said in a telephone interview. "He was alone and he was very mistreated his whole life. He was being treated for schizophrenia. He's never been in trouble. He didn't drink, didn't use drugs. He was kind."