Police Release Video of Man Attacking Children in California Target Store

Jeff Hardcastle
Lodi Police Department

The Lodi, California, police department has released a video of a man violently attacking children in a local target store.

The video was released in the wake of the ten-year prison sentence handed to 51-year-old Jeff Hardcastle, according to CBS Sacramento.

In the video, a man is seen walking up to two young boys playing a video game in a Lodi Target. Without warning, the man is seen hitting an 11-year-old boy from behind and then punching a five-year-old boy in the face.

When CBS reported the case in August, a witness told them that she could still hear the cries of the children in her head.

“He was screaming for a pretty long time. It was loud, and it was ringing through the whole store,” witness Amber Burchfield said.

Police reported that the suspect appeared to be high on drugs and was reportedly acting strangely in the store before the attacks. After the attacks, the police discovered Hardcastle hiding behind a large electrical box outside the store. It is reported that he resisted arrest once being rousted from his hiding place.

Hardcastle was sentenced on December 4, after pleading no contest to assault and causing great bodily injury to a minor. As a condition to his plea deal, the suspect also pleaded guilty to a violent robbery committed in 2008.

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