Man arrested hours after jail release in machete attack, police say

Joseph Payton Gallimore, 42, was out of county jail for only hours before Iredell County deputies say he launched a machete attack that left at least one person injured and kicked off a fast-moving search through the woods. By the next day, Gallimore was back in custody and being held without bond.

Deputies responded on the afternoon of June 10 to reports of breaking and entering and an assault involving a machete. Investigators say the victim, whose name has not been released, was struck in the shoulder and the back of the head, and also suffered defensive wounds while trying to grab the weapon during the attack. The injuries and the weapon made the scene volatile from the start, turning what began as a local assault call into a much broader search.

Witnesses told investigators they saw Gallimore run into the woods still holding the machete, which pushed law enforcement to bring in extra resources to track him down. Drones and a K-9 unit were used during the search, but Gallimore was not found during the initial sweep. That left deputies working a wooded manhunt while trying to account for everyone involved in the confrontation and the fallout that followed.

As the search continued, investigators say they learned the violence may have spilled beyond the first victim. According to the report, Gallimore allegedly flattened the tires of two vehicles with the machete and assaulted another person during the same incident. Those allegations added property damage and additional violence to a case that already had the hallmarks of a rapid reoffense.

Gallimore was arrested on June 11 and charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon, along with misdemeanor counts of assault, domestic violence, false imprisonment, communicating threats and injury to personal property. What began with a release from jail ended, within hours, with a machete attack, a wooded search and a fresh stack of charges, all before the case had time to cool.