Kitchen Knife-Wielding Man Threatens To Kill Stranger: Police

SAN MATEO, CA — A man was arrested after police said he waved a kitchen knife and threatened to kill a stranger who was walking along a San Mateo street Wednesday afternoon.

Officers responded around 3:10 p.m. to the 400 block of Peninsula Avenue following a report of a man brandishing a knife, according to the San Mateo Police Department.

The victim told officers they were walking in the area when a man driving a gray Honda sedan began yelling at people nearby.

The driver, later identified as Joe Medina, 36, of San Mateo, then turned his attention toward the victim, stopped his car and got out while carrying and waving a kitchen knife, police said.

Medina threatened to kill the victim, who told police they had never seen Medina before. The victim ran to a nearby business and reported the incident.

Officers later found Medina and his car at a nearby apartment complex and took him into custody, police said.

Medina was booked into San Mateo County Jail on suspicion of making criminal threats and brandishing a deadly weapon other than a firearm, police said.