CHARLOTTE — Dozens of Publix shoppers ended their grocery trip with an unpleasant surprise Saturday afternoon. A man slashed the tires on nearly 40 cars in the parking lot.
Some cars with flat tires remained in the parking lot at the Ballantyne Town Center Publix on Monday morning when Channel 9’s Eli Brand visited.
“You’re lucky if you only have one tire slashed because you could put the spare on and get out,” one victim told Brand. “But a lot of people had 2 or 3 tires slashed.”
Sean Gray said he was still in his car when his tires were stabbed.
“I realized someone was walking by the front of the car and I didn’t think anything of it until I saw my wife’s car’s tire pressure monitor go from 35 all the way to zero for the front left tire,” he said.
And he wasn’t the only one. Some of the tire slashing was caught on video and posted on the CltUncensored Instagram and TikTok accounts. The video shows at least one other victim was still inside their car when their tires were stabbed.
Gray said he called 911 once he realized what was happening.
“I decided just to sit there because I wasn’t about to go after a person that was mentally not all there for whatever reason, with a knife,” he said.
The man with the knife was 30-year-old Darren Ransom, police said. Police reports show he slashed the tires on dozens of cars before being taken into custody.
Gray took his car for repairs, but he said he was told there would be a wait.
“They said ‘we can’t make any promises’ because everyone from Publix had taken their cars to Firestone and they were backed up,” he said.
Gray’s tire could not be patched, and he had to buy a new one that cost him $100.
Ransom has been charged with ten counts of injury to personal property. His bond has been set at $500. His next court date is set for August.
WATCH: Sexual assault survivor waits hours but Novant SANE nurses didn’t show
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
