Armed Man Hides in Fort Worth Smoothie King Ceiling, Fearing ‘Cartel'

Police take man for a medical evaluation, business owner says

A man who holed himself up in the ceiling of a restaurant hiding from a cartel was taken into custody overnight Saturday.

The owner of the Smoothie King at Alliance Town Center in far North Fort Worth told NBC 5 the driver of a black pickup truck came barreling into the parking lot just before 9 p.m. and ran inside his store.

According to the owner, the man showed his employees a gun and yelled that the cartel was coming after him. He then ran to the back of the restaurant, grabbed a ladder and climbed onto a freezer and into the ceiling.

Fort Worth police dispatched their SWAT unit to deescalate the incident. When they entered the restaurant, the man, later identified by police as 37-year-old John Case, fell through the ceiling and landed on the counter.

The owner told NBC 5 that police discussed sending the man for a mental evaluation.

Case has been arrested and is facing charges of terroristic threat, criminal mischief and discharging a firearm in certain municipalities.

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