\A security officer was stabbed in the chest Monday after confronting two suspected shoplifters outside a South Hill Mall department store, officials said Tuesday.
The 21-year-old man was taken to Tacoma General Hospital for surgery. He was expected to survive, court records show.
Two loss-prevention officers inside Macy's saw two teens take some clothes and leave the store without paying about 7 p.m., Puyallup police Capt. Dave McDonald said.
Court records give this account:
The officers -- one of whom identified himself as a Macy's employee -- confronted the teens outside. One of the officers tackled one of the teens while the other confronted 18-year-old Jacob Tartaglia.
Tartaglia stabbed the victim, who yelled, "I've been stabbed, call the police," before taking Tartaglia to the ground.
The two teens eventually were taken into custody with the help of two off-duty Puyallup Tribal police officers who happened to be in the area, McDonald said.
Tartaglia, who pleaded not guilty Tuesday to first-degree assault and first-degree robbery, told detectives he didn't know at first that the victim was from Macy's.
"The defendant states he thought he was being mugged, and while struggling, he pulled out the knife and stabbed the victim," the court records show.
"The victim then said he was from Macy's, and the defendant dropped the knife."
Tartaglia told investigators he had the knife along to cut tags off clothes. He admitted to shoplifting, the records state. He was ordered jailed on $100,000 bail.
The other teen, a 17-year-old boy, is expected to face third-degree theft charges, Pierce County deputy prosecutor Fred Wist said.
Copyright 2012 - The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
