Testimony is ongoing in the trial of a man involved in attacks in Topeka in 2022

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Testimony began Wednesday morning in Shawnee Co. District Court in the trial of a man accused of a series of crimes on Topeka's west side.

The man, Zunzella McBride, 41, was booked into the Shawnee Co. Jail on December 13, 2022. He was arrested in connection with several incidents around SW Huntoon St. and Wanamaker R.

McBride is charged with three counts of aggravated assault, two counts of criminal damage to property, theft and obstructing a police officer.

Three people were injured in the incident. The incident ended after Topeka police used tear gas to take McBride into custody near the intersection of SW Huntoon and Wanamaker.

Court documents obtained by 13 NEWS in December 2022 revealed that on December 13, 2022, at approximately 3 p.m., Topeka police initially responded to a call to Academy Sports + Outdoors, 1133 S.W. responded. Wanamaker Rd. According to the reports, a man wrapped in a blanket hit an employee with a billiard cue.

The woman who was hit suffered two broken cheekbones; a broken nose and collarbone; and a torn ear, according to an affidavit filed in the case. The woman did not remember what happened, possibly due to a head injury, the affidavit said.

From the Academy Sports Store, the man – later identified as McBride – used the pool stick to attack a woman sitting in a car outside On the Border restaurant, 1235 SW Wanamaker Road, a short distance south and east of Academy Sports.

According to the affidavit, the woman said McBride threw the pool stick through the car window, hitting her shoulder and neck and breaking the stick in half.

Eventually, police say, McBride drove toward the intersection of SW Huntoon Street and Wanamaker Road, south and east of On the Border, where McBride allegedly threw a rock through the window of 13 Sports Director Vince Lovergine's car. Lovergine told police he blocked the rock with his hand, causing a slight swelling. The rock also damaged the inside of his car door.

McBride then jumped into the bed of a nearby pickup truck and lay down on it, the affidavit states.

A police officer wrote in the affidavit that McBride “barricaded himself by lying down in the bed of the truck” and that he was “still wrapped in the blue blanket.”

Police officers who were on the scene could not see McBride's hands, the affidavit states. Officers feared that McBride “was still armed with a weapon and would continue to cause harm to the public or officers if not arrested.”

The affidavit states that McBride did not follow officers' commands and at one point said “something along the lines of 'I'm ready to die.'”

According to the affidavit, officers eventually threw a tear gas canister into the back of the pickup truck. McBride then showed his hands to officers, got out of the back of the truck and was taken into custody.

McBride was being held in the Shawnee County Jail on a $75,000 bond.

Jury selection in the trial concluded Tuesday. Lovergine was among the witnesses who testified on Wednesday in the four-day trial.

Further information can be found later on wibw.com.

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