Sonora, CA…Early Sunday afternoon around 1 PM, the Sheriff’s Office received several reports of a man with a tennis racket in the Junction Shopping Center assaulting people. A woman at the old McDonald’s restaurant reported she was struck with a tennis racket by an unknown man at least five times and suffered minor injuries. The same man had also swung a tennis racket at a KFC employee. The victims did not know the suspect or why he was attacking them. A deputy arrived on scene but the suspect had already left the area.

Yesterday morning just before 9 AM, the Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Jack in the Box restaurant located in the same shopping center. It was reported that a man who was in the drive thru tried to hit the cashier in the face with a wooden baseball bat. The suspect later identified as 41 year old Wayne Howard Jr. of Sonora, drove to the front of the restaurant, exited his truck and swung the baseball bat at another employee who was outside writing down the vehicle license plate number. Howard struck the employee several times hitting him in the hands, arms and hip.

Deputies arrived on scene and arrested Wayne Winford Howard Jr after he complied with their commands to drop the bat.Howard was then identified by the victim from McDonald’s as the suspect who hit her with a tennis racket the day prior.

Howard was booked into the Tuolumne County Jail on three counts of assault with a deadly weapon.