Man who drove through San Jose Walmart sentenced to eight years in prison
Haamid Ade Zaid
SANTA CLARA COUNTY — The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has announced the conviction and sentencing of a man who drove recklessly into a San Jose Walmart on Story Road, just three months after running his car into the Chevron gas station on W. Capitol Expressway.
According to Deputy District Attorney Deborah Hernandez, “Just before 6 p.m. on December 16, 2012, Haamid Ade Zaid collided his Lexus into a vehicle at the intersection of Meridian and Hillsdale Avenues after running a red light.”
It was then that during a brief high speed chase with law enforcement that Zaid began to drive recklessly in which he eventually crashed into a Chevron gas station convenience store located on W. Capitol Expressway in San Jose, narrowly missing two employees working inside.
Zaid had changed his plea from not guilty by reason of insanity, to guilty. Zaid was charged on December 7, 2016 to 10 counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, as well as felony vandalism, and reckless driving.
The Honorable Daniel Nishigaya sentenced Zaid to eight years in prison for using a dangerous and destructive device, in which he drove his car through the front entrance of a local Walmart store which ended with the injury of seven victims.
Hernandez said, “It has been nearly four years since these incidents occurred and a long road to get justice for the victims,”
The sentencing charged that Zaid had on Easter Sunday (March 31, 2013), drove his 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass through the intersection of Story and Senter Road, colliding with several parked cars that were stopped at a red light.
Prosecutors detailed how Zaid began to drive through the parking lot of the Walmart, colliding into other parked cars located in the front parking lot of the store. Zaid then targeted shoppers exiting the store and began to drive inside, crashing through the front doors.
Not fully satisfied with his first entry into the store he backed up and then tried to drive forward again. But this time his car was disabled on a mound of crashed shopping carts. Once Ziad’s car was disabled he then pulled out a metal pipe from his car, and began to chase shoppers through the store, severely injuring one person, while attacking six others until patrons were able to stop his attack by tying him up with their belts until law enforcement could arrive.
