San Jose: Police put out call for tips in Peters’ Bakery customer assault

SAN JOSE — Police are formally asking the public for tips to help them find a man who last month vandalized the inside of Peters’ Bakery in broad daylight then attacked a patron who followed him outside to record him.

The request follows bakery staff posting security footage of the Dec. 17 confrontation and assault and encouraging tipsters to contact the San Jose Police Department with information that could lead to the man, pleading with viewers to “help us find him.”

Around 2:20 p.m. on the day of the crime, the man entered the Alum Rock Avenue shop — a San Jose institution for nearly a century — and solicited staff to buy cleaning wipes he was carrying with him. After an employee declined, he is shown on video violently pushing a cash register onto the floor and knocking other items off a counter.

The excerpted video from the bakery later shows the man walking outside with a woman trailing and recording him. He then turns toward the woman and took her to the ground before fleeing. The woman was treated for injuries at the scene.

In a news release Friday, police released a still image from the video and described him as a man in his 50s, between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10, with medium athletic build. He was seen on the day of the assault wearing a black-and-orange baseball cap emblazoned with a “G” and featuring a white patch on the bill, and a navy-blue puffer vest with his arms exposed. Police added that the man “is believed to frequent establishments” in East San Jose.

The SJPD assaults unit is investigating the case, and anyone with information about the attack can call 408-277-4161 or email Detective Matthew Lopes at 4870@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can also be submitted with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.