Police surround white truck at the Arco on 33rd and El Cajon

Recently, axe and machete wielders have been terrifying San Diegans—a change from last year's swords. Some neighbors are capturing videos on their Ring, Blink, and phone cameras and posting scary videos on social media to warn others.

Last week, Lonnie T. of Normal Heights posted photos on the NextDoor app of "18 cop cars" surrounding a white-colored truck at the Arco gas station on 33rd and El Cajon Boulevard, wondering, "What going on?"

Axe wielder on Ring app

Nearby Linh Mai continued online, "He [allegadly] carjacked someone with an axe in Balboa Park, and they tracked the vehicle to the gas station. The K9 jumped through the window and bit him, and the cops arrested him."

I direct messaged Mai, and she said they "were watching the whole time" as the police "shot the pepper balls" through the truck's window. The man was arrested, and no additional details were made online as this article goes to print.

On March 20, a man holding a machete was captured on video hanging out in front of homes in La Mesa. A concerned neighbor called the police.

On the weekend of March 10, an axe-carrying man with a red-colored face cover and hoodie was captured on multiple Ring and Blink cameras prowling in the Hillcrest and Mission Hills neighborhoods, checking doors of homes and peeking through car windows.

"I posted Friday night about a man with an axe," said one local  online. "He came to my door at 10:40 pm; he tried to open someone else’s door at 12:30 am and was seen at another complex at 6:00 am. I called police, and the person at 12:30 pm called the police. The police told the second person no one had called before, which I did. Last night, Saturday, he was back and seen three more times on Ring videos in Mission Hills.

"Cops have been notified again Saturday night and did nothing. They apparently made contact with this individual and talked to him, [but] he went back on prowling."

In 2023, sword wielders were more prevalent.

In October, mainstream news reported a samurai sword-carrying man in Carlsbad, which brought about the SWAT team to intervene.

A month prior, in City Heights, another man reportedly packing a sword stole a child's scooter. "My brother chased him down and got our stuff back," the scooter rider's father said on NextDoor.  

In July, news outlets covered another sword-related story regarding a 63-year-old woman who was "scalped" with a sword at the Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park in City Heights.