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Whitman Police arrest man accused of pulling knife during argument inside store

WHITMAN, Mass. — Whitman Police arrested a man accused of pulling a knife on a store clerk during an argument Tuesday night.

Whitman Police Chief Scott Benton said Joshua Walsh, 31, of Whitman, was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.

Police responded just after 9 p.m. to the area of 34 Temple Street for a report of a man with a knife.

When officers arrived, they located a group of people yelling at each other. One of the people was later identified as Walsh.

Officers were able to calm everyone down and started talking to the people involved in the argument.

Benton said an initial investigation determined Walsh and another man had gone into the Family Dollar store on Washington Street and started to argue with an employee. The employee told police when he asked the pair to leave, Walsh started walking toward him while holding a knife. Both men then left the store.

The store employee called one of his family members, who came to the scene and confronted Walsh and the other man. They got into an argument before officers arrived.

After speaking with witnesses, officers determined Walsh was the man who pulled the knife in the store and they arrested him.

After searching the area, officers found a folding knife with a brown handle and a silver blade under a car in a nearby parking lot. They seized the knife as evidence.

The store employee wasn’t injured.

Walsh is expected to be arraigned on Wednesday in Brockton District Court.

Cell phone video circulating social media captured a police officer attempting to detain a person of interest during the investigation. Police clarified the person lying on a sidewalk in the video was not arrested or charged.