Ax-wielding man destroys drums before pulling gun on drummer, California cops say
.png "Andy Torres said he was playing the drums in a California park when an ax-wielding man attacked his drum kit.")
A drummer’s Saturday morning practice was interrupted by an unexpected audience member — a man swinging an ax, police say.
Andy Torres told CBS News that he was playing the drums April 2 near a trail at Todd Longshore Park in Santa Clarita when the man attacked him.
“He just came up swinging already,” Torres told the outlet. “He didn’t announce himself or say ‘get out of the way’… he knew what he was going to do. I happened to just get out of the way.”
After trying to hack apart Torres’ drum kit, the man pulled a gun out of his jacket and threatened him with it, Torres told The Signal.
“That’s when I really lost it,” Torres told NBC Los Angeles.
Torres then told the man that he caught everything on video, CBS News reported. The man walked away, and Torres followed him, capturing his car’s license plate number, he told the outlet.
Torres called police and reported the incident to the sheriff’s office, The Signal reported.
In an emailed statement, Deputy Natalie Arriaga with the Santa Clarita Valley Station confirmed to McClatchy News that officers responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon that day.
“During investigation, deputies learned while the victim was playing his portable drum set, an unknown suspect approached him carrying an axe and broke the victim’s drum set,” Arriaga said. “The suspect then brandished a firearm towards the victim while yelling at the victim.”
No one had complained about the noise Torres made while drumming before, he told KCAL.
“This is very dangerous,” Torres told The Signal. “A person like this shouldn’t be walking around the streets. No warning, no warning at all and I barely caught him. I could have been dead.”
But despite the scary encounter, Torres said he’ll patch the drum kit up and that his love of music hasn’t diminished.
“It’s not destroyed,” he told CBS Los Angeles. “They’ll have to do better than that.
Anyone who may have additional information on the incident is asked to contact the Santa Clarita Valley Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Ax-wielding man destroys drums before pulling gun on drummer, California cops say."