Manager of Santa Monica Music Center Store Attacked by a Homeless Man Swinging a Stool

5.31. A suspect tried to assault the owner of Santa Monica Music Center this morning. He is not the same suspect who had been arrested for the theft of a guitar, said owner Lana Negrete, who is also a Santa Monica City Council member.

The suspect had tried to pass a counterfeit hundred dollar bill Thursday at the music store. "Today he came back in and when my manager asked him to leave, he attacked him with a stool swinging it out his face the cops just arrested him," she wrote. The suspect probably faces charges of assault with the deadly weapon and passing counterfeit money.

"This is a photo of him using a counterfeit hundred dollar bill last week. He's the same guy who was sitting in front of our store on a stool in front of our front door blocking the entrance. My store manager asked him to move. He told him to leave them alone, yelled some expletives, and then picked up his wooden chair and swung it at my manager who blocked his face with his arm. The same guy also tried using another hundred dollar fake counterfeit bill yesterday while I was in the store."

"Our business has prided itself on being affordable and accessible to everyone who wants to get into music or buy an instrument. It’s nearly impossible to do that nowadays with the cost of having a store and having to cover for shrinkage and theft," said Negrete.

"These incidents are making me heavily consider just having a school and having a appointment only warehouse that serves our local school districts with instruments and supplies and allows for customers who take lessons at our store to purchase instruments and then put everything else online we would like to try to stay as a local retail shop since we’ve been in business over 52 years now ," Negrete added.

The suspect in last Friday's theft of a guitar from Santa Monica Music Center was arrested and released. He had been booked for the theft of a guitar, said owner Lana Negrete, who is also a Santa Monica City Councilmember. "I'm waiting till his court date is notified to me so I can show up," said Negrete.

Surveillance video in that previous incident shows the man walking into the store, then exiting with a guitar while an employee speaks on the telephone.

"A huge thank you to our amazing @santamonicapd the thief who stole our guitar was apprehended within hours of stealing it and it was returned to me this evening! Justice was served today! Im [sic] so grateful for the swift response and amazing work of our officers – specifically our downtown unit!" Negrete wrote on her Instagram account.