A stabbing spree at a Walmart near Traverse City left 11 people injured, according to law enforcement.

One victim has left the hospital, and all of them are expected to survive, according to the hospital treating them.

This story has been updated to include additional information.

Authorities plan to seek terrorism and assault with intent to murder charges against a 42-year-old man arrested as a suspect in the weekend stabbing spree at a Walmart near Traverse City — a violent attack that left 11 people injured and made northern Michigan the latest site of mass violence at a U.S. retailer.

Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea announced the requested charges during a news conference Sunday, July 27, the day after the attack. He identified the suspect as Bradford James Gille, of Afton, a small, unincorporated community near Indian River in Cheboygan County.

While Shea said a motive behind the attack remains unknown, Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg explained the rationale behind the plan to seek a terrorism charge, in addition to 11 counts of assault with intent to murder for each of the injured victims.

A terrorism charge fits when there is a mass incident that appears to be a random act of violence that seems done “to put fear in the entire community,” she said. Moeggenberg said her office anticipates authorizing charges on Monday, July 28, and expects the suspect to be arraigned that day or the next. A terrorism charge is punishable by life imprisonment, Moeggenberg said.

“Mr. Gille’s history shows prior assaultive incidents as well as controlled substance violations,” Shea told reporters.

He declined to comment on Gille’s mental health history, but he didn’t rule out the possibility that mental health may have played a role. “I think it’s fair to say that any time that you have someone that commits an incident or an act like this, there is some sort of mental health issue involved,” he said.

The stabbing rampage began late afternoon on Saturday, July 26, with the first 911 call coming in at 4:43 p.m., according to police.

The assailant used a folding knife to injure 11 people before onlookers subdued him, authorities said. Law enforcement credited those citizens for stopping further harm.

“I will tell you they were absolutely instrumental in preventing further injuries, potential casualties,” Shea told the Free Press Sunday.

“It’s not very often that we have citizens that are willing to step up and take action,” he later said during the news conference. “What they did was amazing.”

One of the citizens who intervened to stop Gille was armed with a pistol, according to Shea.

An officer was at the scene within three minutes of police receiving the first 911 call, Shea said during a Saturday night news conference.

The stabbings began near the checkout area, according to Shea.

A video posted by Grand Rapids TV station WZZM 13 shows what appear to be onlookers intervening to thwart the suspect outside the Walmart. “Drop the knife,” one man shouts in the video, which shows several men, one who appears to be holding a handgun, surrounding another man between cars in the parking lot. “Throw it away,” another man yells.

The suspect was placed in custody after the attack and was being held at the Grand Traverse County Jail, according to Shea.

All of the injured were sent to Munson Medical Center. Six of the patients were initially in critical condition and five were in serious condition. Three of the injured required surgery. But by Sunday morning, patients had shown “encouraging signs of recovery,” according to Munson Healthcare. One patient has since been released, according to Dr. Tom Schermerhorn, chief medical officer at Munson. Among the 10 remaining patients, two were in serious condition and the others had progressed to fair condition, he said.

The victims include six males and five females, according to Shea. Their ages range from 29 to 84 years old, he said. One Walmart employee was among the victims, he said.

Walmart spokesperson Kelly Hellbusch said in an emailed statement on Sunday: “We’re focused on supporting our associates and being there for our Traverse City community. We’re continuing to pay all associates while our store remains closed, assist the police investigation and have set up an Associate Resource Center locally that will include counseling services. Our thoughts remain with those recovering.”

All of those injured in the attack are expected to survive, said Schermerhorn.

In recent years, some high-profile incidents of mass violence in the U.S. have occurred at retail locations. A 2019 shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killed 23 people. In 2022, a shooter killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Experts called that rampage part of a trend of mass shootings at retail establishments. Criminal justice professors Jillian Peterson and James Densley of Hamline University and Metropolitan State University, respectively, tracked mass public shootings and found that only one incident in their data prior to 2019 took place at a supermarket, and noted multiple shootings at grocery stores that occurred before the one in Buffalo.

Public officials condemned the attack at the Michigan Walmart.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and community reeling from this brutal act of violence,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a Facebook post.

State Rep. Betsy Coffia, D-Traverse City, whose district includes the Walmart where the mass stabbing took echoed Whitmer. “Hug your loved ones. This is a moment to pull together as neighbors and as a community,” she said on Facebook. State Sen. John Damoose, R-Harbor Springs, who represents the area called July 26 “a tragic day” for the Traverse City community in a Facebook post, and described the attack as a “random and senseless act of violence.”

‘Sad state of affairs’

When Traverse CIty resident Yvonne Brinks first heard the news, she said her mind jumped to her shopping trips with her 2-year-old son and how she could protect him.

“I was thinking, ‘What if I was there?'” she said.

Brinks and her husband, Jon Brinks, moved to Traverse City seven months ago.

“When I moved here, I thought, it’s a cool city, and calm. I am safe here,” she said. “I couldn’t expect something to happen here in Traverse City.”

Yvonne Brinks said Walmart is one of her sister’s favorite stores.

“I called my family and told them something happened here like in the movies — someone came in Walmart and was stabbing,” she said.

Jon Brinks said it’s hard to know why events like this happen.

“It’s just shocking,” Jon Brinks said. “You never know what caused it,” he said, saying the suspect may have had a mental health condition. “I feel for people impacted by it and wonder if the guy who did this had enough support in his life or if he was going through anything.”

Janice Denny Archer, who also lives in Traverse City, said she wasn’t so shocked.

“It’s a sad state of affairs,” she said. “I knew it would come here sooner or later, and I am happy that nobody was killed.”

Jonathan Limehouse and Bart Jansen of USA TODAY contributed with previous reporting.

Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.