I-Team: Warrant out for alleged gas station vandal who was arrested, then came back that night

CLEVELAND (WJW) — The FOX 8 I-Team has found a man is now wanted by police for a crime caught on camera — even though police had arrested him just hours before that incident.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a suspect wanted for doing a lot of damage at a store. Yet, the owner wonders why the suspect had even been allowed back on the street.

The I-Team recently showed you a man doing damage at Lakeshore Gas on Cleveland’s Northeast side.

Court records show he caused $80,000 in damage.

But now, police have to find him.

However, the store owner said police had the man hours earlier after he caused trouble with a knife inside the store. Officers at that time had the suspect sent to a hospital for a psychological exam.

Somehow, the same guy on the same night terrorized the same store, then got away, the owner said.

“But we were kind of amazed to see him in an hour-and-a-half, back again on the street giving us a message, you know, ‘I’m here again, what you gonna do about it?’” Azhar Khan said.

“He had a different outfit when he comes back, but we’re 110% sure it’s the same guy.”

So far, a warrant has been issued for possible charges tied to the second incident, but not the first.

As for the mental health exam, the hospital would not answer any questions about how or why the suspect ended up back on the streets so quickly.

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