PHOENIX — A suspect has been taken into custody after a barricade situation at a business near 75th Avenue and Buckeye Road Monday morning.
Video from the scene showed nearly a dozen police vehicles surrounding Kem Krest, an auto accessory wholesaler headquartered in the Midwest.
Two of the patrol cars were parked against the building, and crime tape and a K9 were at the scene.
Police say they were dispatched to the area after someone reported a stabbing inside the business.
Witnesses reportedly told police the man responsible for the stabbing was still in the business and police evacuated the building.
Police say the victim was stabbed and sliced multiple times and has been taken to a hospital for treatment.
After several hours the suspect was removed from the building and taken into custody.
Officials identified the suspect as 28-year-old Kendis Randles, who police say was an employee of the victim.
The man who was stabbed multiple times is expected to survive but will require additional surgeries, according to police.
A motive for the stabbing remains under investigation.
BARRICADED SUSPECT: We are at Kem Krest (according to people who work inside). One worker told me he was in the back and heard a commotion and then a scream. Police say one man was stabbed inside the business. We’re told the suspect is still inside now. @abc15 pic.twitter.com/4HcOnuTmZn
— Ashley Holden (@ashleyvholden) October 17, 2022
“I just heard like tables moving and somebody screaming in the background,” said Kem Krest employee Ralph Rocha.
Rocha told ABC15 he had just started his shift around 7:45 a.m. when he heard those screams.
“By the time I was up there they had already isolated him in the office,” said Rocha.
He said he and the other employees inside were told to leave.
Rocha told ABC15 that the victim was his manager, and the suspect was a man he knew as a fellow employee. He described the suspect as typically quiet.
Rocha said he saw his manager outside the building.
“I saw him out from he was bleeding pretty bad, but we don’t know the extent of his injuries,” said Rocha.
Police told ABC15 that the men had some type of confrontation before the stabbing occurred.
After the stabbing, an hours-long stand-off brought out police, SWAT, and members of the Crisis Intervention Team.
“He said he didn’t want to come out alive,” said a police spokesperson.
Police said less-lethal force was used and eventually the suspect was led out in handcuffs.
Kem Krest executive leadership was reportedly on the way to the Valley to provide more support following the incident.
