A young group home resident is accused of assaulting a drug store employee while stealing alcohol. At 9:20PM Wednesday night 23-year-old Blake Erickson, an employee of the Rite Aid at Court Street and Eureka Way, watched as a teenage boy picked up two glass liquor bottles from a shelf and started to walk out of the store. When confronted, the boy swung the bottles at Erickson’s head, hitting him multiple times and knocking him to the floor. The boy then fled into the neighborhood. Redding Police Officers searched with help from a CHP helicopter but they couldn’t find the teenage assailant. About an hour later, staff from the Open Line Group Home called police to say they believed that a 17-year-old resident of the home was the suspect. He had apparently caused a disturbance earlier in the day, damaging property and assaulting staff members before running away. He returned to the home shortly after the incident at Rite Aid. Officers went to the home and saw that he was the same boy seen in surveillance video. He was booked into Juvenile Hall for assault with a deadly weapon and robbery. Erickson was treated for head injuries at Mercy Hospital.
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