Axe-Wielding Incident at Ocala Car Wash
A Florida man allegedly charged at two teenage brothers closing a car wash in Ocala on Sunday night. The older brother, an 18-year-old with mixed martial arts training, managed to subdue the assailant quickly.
According to video footage from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect, identified as 36-year-old Bryce Thayer, approached car wash worker Leodan Pino, 18, and his younger brother as they wrapped up their shift.
When Thayer was asked to leave, he reportedly became “enraged” and confronted the brothers while wielding an ax. “I locked all the doors and then I heard screaming and someone yelling something,” Pino recounted. “He was clearly not in the right state of mind… I told him, ‘You have to leave, dude, you have to leave.'”
At that point, Thayer took an ax from his backpack and directed it at Pino. The footage captured Pino lunging at Thayer while his brother helped disarm him.
Pino shared, “After he went down, I scored a takedown. I got on top of him and controlled the situation.” He noted that when Thayer wouldn’t release his grip, he used several elbow strikes to incapacitate him. “I put him in a triangle position, applied a rear naked choke, and waited for the officers to arrive.”
A photograph of Thayer’s mug revealed significant bruising on his face, which likely resulted from the altercation. Pino, who recently joined the military, expressed that Thayer “got what he deserved.”
The sheriff’s office later arrested Thayer and discovered he had a glass pipe associated with methamphetamine on him. He faces two felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of drug paraphernalia, and he is currently held on an $11,000 bond.
Records show that Thayer had been arrested multiple times since May 2024, facing various charges, including possession of controlled substances and trespassing.
“I’m incredibly grateful that I was able to take control of the situation,” Pino remarked. “I’m just relieved that I was the one to approach my brother first, as I’m not sure others would have acted the same way. It feels good to have protected him.”
