Machete-wielding man returned to police station 4 months later armed with gun, cops say

A man who walked into a Kansas police station with a machete four months ago was arrested again Friday morning when police say he returned with a gun.

The man walked into the lobby of the Topeka Police Department headquarters at around 7:15 a.m. and "caused a disturbance," police spokeswoman Gretchen Koenen said in a release. She said officers approached the man and discovered he had a gun.

Anthony Ruiz-Hernandez, 21, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and criminal possession of a firearm, the release said.

This was the second time in about four months that Ruiz-Hernandez was arrested at the law enforcement center after causing a disturbance while armed with a weapon, police said.

At around 2 a.m. on Feb. 3, Ruiz-Hernandez walked into the police station wielding a machete and said he had a bomb, Topeka police said at the time. Officers talked him into leaving the lobby and isolated him from others.

More than an hour after he first arrived, Ruiz-Hernandez "aggressed on officers with his machete," and officers used a Taser to subdue him, police said. He sustained "only superficial injuries," and no officers were injured.

He was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, disobeying a lawful police order, criminal threat and interference with a law enforcement officer.

Ruiz-Hernandez, who was homeless, had been jailed with a $25,000 bond after the February incident, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. A jury trial on the February incident is set for Aug. 20, KSNT reported.

This story was originally published June 22, 2018 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Machete-wielding man returned to police station 4 months later armed with gun, cops say."