A repeat offender walked into a California Target, allegedly choked a stranger at checkout, and reminded every law‑abiding American how badly the justice system is failing them.

Story Snapshot

• A 34-year-old man allegedly walked into a Simi Valley Target and randomly choked a woman at the checkout line, as cellphone video shows.
• Multiple shoppers, including a teen boy, were hurt while fighting him off, and Target staff evacuated the store as chaos spread.
• Police say the suspect, Rejean Tabor, had been released from custody just two days earlier after prior arrests, raising serious questions about repeat offenders.^[2]
• The victim was hospitalized but is recovering, while families now ask why a man with several prior arrests was free to roam a busy store.^[1]

Violent Attack Inside a Busy Target Shocks Simi Valley

Police say late Wednesday afternoon in Simi Valley, California, a 34-year-old local man named Rejean Tabor walked into a Target on Tierra Rejada Road and went straight for a woman checking out with her items.^[1] According to officers, he allegedly grabbed her by the neck and began choking her without warning, while shocked shoppers watched. Cellphone video shows a man with his arm around a woman’s throat as others rush in and yell for him to get off.^[2]

Witnesses say one woman jumped on the attacker’s back to pull him away, but he reportedly threw her off and kept fighting.^[2] Other shoppers, including at least one teenage boy, joined the struggle and tried to pin him down.^[1] The video footage shows a wild scene in the checkout area, with carts pushed aside and people screaming as they try to stop the chokehold. Families who came to buy groceries suddenly found themselves in a fight for someone’s life.

Good Samaritans Step In as Store Evacuated

Police reports and local coverage say that after the first victim was pulled free, the suspect moved deeper into the store and reportedly went after a 16-year-old boy near the produce section.^[1] A father later said his son suffered minor injuries while trying to help stop the attack. Other shoppers and loss prevention workers joined in, wrestling the suspect away and trying to keep him from reaching more people until officers arrived on scene.^[1]

As the struggle moved through the aisles, Target employees followed emergency procedures and began evacuating customers out the front doors.^[1] Parents grabbed their kids and ran, unsure if the attacker had a weapon or if more violence was coming. When Simi Valley Police officers entered the store, they found the suspect reportedly throwing items in the grocery area. Officers arrested him without a fight, but the chaos left several people shaken and bruised, and the woman he allegedly choked was rushed to the hospital.^[1]

Repeat Offender Raises Hard Questions About Public Safety

According to local reporting and social media summaries of court documents, Rejean Tabor has been arrested at least six times in the past two years.^[13] Police and reporters say he had just been released from custody two days before this Target attack, after an earlier arrest in March that involved indecent exposure and allegedly assaulting a police officer.^[2] Now he is booked on serious charges, including attempted murder, assault, battery, burglary, and causing unnecessary suffering to a minor.^[1]

Cellphone video taken Wednesday evening at a Target store in Simi Valley Los Angeles shows a man randomly attacking a woman while she was shopping, and then the good Samaritans who jumped in to help her and stop the man.

Police ultimately arrived at the store, arresting the… pic.twitter.com/ye3MOHw3K6

— Mike Netter (@nettermike) June 19, 2026

For many Americans, this case feels less like a random fluke and more like one more warning about soft-on-crime policies. A man with a long record, including violence toward an officer, was back on the street and inside a busy store at dinnertime. Regular families paid the price. Prosecutors will sort out the legal questions, including the suspect’s state of mind, but parents walking those aisles care about something simpler: why was a repeat offender free to attack a stranger in broad daylight?

Media Framing, Missing Answers, and What Comes Next

Major outlets and social media posts quickly framed the Simi Valley attack as a “random” act of violence by a repeat offender, sharing the video and praising the brave Good Samaritans who jumped in.^[2] That coverage lines up with what police have said so far and what the cellphone clips appear to show. What the public still does not know is why this man was released just days earlier and what conditions, if any, were placed on him when he walked out of custody.^[1]

Key details remain hidden behind agency silence, including any probation decisions, mental health history, or drug testing results that might explain his condition that night. Those answers matter for families who expect the system to protect them before, not after, an attack goes viral. As voters, taxpayers, and parents, many conservatives see this case as proof that public safety must come first, repeat offenders must face real consequences, and law-abiding citizens must never be left powerless in the checkout line again.

Sources:

[1] Web – Repeat Offender Released From Jail Just Two Days Earlier Randomly …

[2] Web – Video shows Simi Valley Target store attack, suspect arrested

[13] Web – Cellphone video taken Wednesday evening at a Target store in Simi …