Knife-wielding man arrested near Malibu Jack in the Box

A man was arrested last month after allegedly threatening bystanders with a knife near the Malibu Pier and at a Jack in the Box across the from the pier, according to Det. Sam Taylor of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s station. 

The suspect, 23-year-old Robert Thomas of San Luis Obispo, has been in custody since the early hours of Feb. 22 when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies detained and charged him on two counts, one for felony brandishing of a weapon and another for felony possession of methamphetamine.

“He said he was attending a party in Santa Monica where he took LSD, and apparently that affected him,” Taylor said. “He ended up in Malibu. I don’t think he knows how he did.”

Security guards who were working on a film shoot at the pier called deputies to the scene just after midnight on Friday, Feb. 22 after seeing the suspect waving a knife, Taylor said. By the time deputies arrived, Thomas had crossed Pacific Coast Highway and was found sitting on a retaining wall next to Jack in the Box.

“He went from the pier to the Jack in the Box and kinda wandered around in there,” Taylor said. “Then he walked out of the Jack in the Box.”

Thomas’ next court date is set for March 5 in Van Nuys, Taylor said.