Colma man arrested after allegedly threatening Home Depot guard with axe

A 35-year-old man from South San Francisco allegedly told a Home Depot Loss Prevention Officer he would "beat him" with an axe and "bury" him, Colma police said, and also "threatened to find the Loss Prevention Officer after work and harm him." The confrontation began inside the Home Depot Pro at 91 Colma Boulevard in Colma, police said.

Colma officers responded to a reported verbal dispute around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, according to police releases. The man reportedly escalated the argument with the explicit threats while inside the store at the Metro Mall location, then left the premises and drove away in a silver Ford.

Officers located the vehicle in the rear of the Metro Mall shopping center, pulled the driver over and detained him, "without incident," Colma police said. The unnamed suspect was booked into the San Mateo County Jail and faces "criminal threats" charges, the reports said.

The news releases and subsequent coverage did not identify the man by name, did not list a case number or bail amount, and did not say whether an axe or other weapon was recovered. Hoodline's summary of the statute notes, under California Penal Code section 422, criminal threats can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the circumstances and a defendant's record, and the law covers threats that are "specific enough to cause a victim sustained fear." No injuries were reported in the Colma incident.

The arrest comes amid other recent violent-threat incidents at Bay Area big-box Home Depot locations. A separate case in Marin County on Dec. 15, 2025 involved an allegation that a man threatened customers with a box cutter outside the Home Depot at 111 Shoreline Parkway in San Rafael; that suspect was booked into the Marin County Jail on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon and felony vandalism and is not connected to the Colma arrest.

According to the Colma police account, the man remains in custody at the San Mateo County Jail on criminal threats charges, with no court date or additional booking details disclosed in the reports. A photo accompanying the initial report was credited to the Colma Police Department.