True Crime
Punta Gorda police arrested Ramsey Thomas Lyons after a 70-year-old Publix shopper was cut with a box cutter.
YourSun and WBBH reported that Punta Gorda police charged Ramsey Thomas Lyons, 47, with aggravated battery on a person 65 or older after a Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, attack at the Publix at 2310 Tamiami Trail. The shopper, a 70-year-old man, was not named. Lyons is being held at the Charlotte County Jail without bond.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
The charge is an accusation. YourSun reported Lyons told officers he went into the store intending to kill someone and picked the shopper because the man looked like he was from the 1960s. A no-contact order and a Nov. 16 hearing are process. They are not a conviction.
YourSun reported that Punta Gorda police were sent to the store at 3:44 p.m. Saturday. The 70-year-old shopper told officers he felt as if someone had punched the left side of his face, then turned and saw Lyons with a box cutter. Law & Crime, citing the arrest affidavit, reported a gash that started on the left cheek near the mouth and ran through the jawline to the neck, and that the man needed stitches. Officers found Lyons near the entrance with his hands on his head and recovered the box cutter.
After he was read his rights, Lyons told officers he had an undiagnosed mental illness and disliked the 1960s, YourSun and WBBH reported. He said he entered the store with the intent to murder someone and chose the shopper because the man looked like he was from the 1960s. YourSun quoted the report: "I just pulled it out of my pocket and stuck it in his neck." He said he dropped the cutter. YourSun listed his address as 240 West End Drive in Punta Gorda and said County Judge Michael Powell ordered no contact with the shopper at a Sunday first appearance. He remained in jail without bond. His next hearing is Nov. 16.
Aggravated battery on a person 65 or older is the charge police filed. It is not a conviction. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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