CRIME

Woman charged after bleach poured on Target customer

Brittany Horn
The News Journal

State police have arrested a woman they say poured bleach on another woman's head at a Target store earlier this month.

Lataka Mason

Lataka Mason, 39, of Wilmington, was charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child, said Master Cpl. Jeffrey Hale, a spokesman for the Delaware State Police. Mason turned herself in at Troop 1 in Penny Hill on Tuesday morning after police positively identified her as the woman involved, Hale said.

Troopers were first called on Aug. 4 to the Target in the 1000 block of Brandywine Parkway in Brandywine Hundred for the report of an assault, Hale said. There, a 24-year-old woman told police that she got into a verbal fight with another woman in the store when Mason became angry that the woman's shopping cart was blocking the aisle, Hale said.

When the woman moved her shopping cart to the side in order for Mason to pass, the carts collided, leading to the fight, Hale said.

State police are searching for a woman, who the department says, poured bleach on another woman during a verbal dispute at Target Thursday.

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At this point, Mason got a bottle of bleach and proceeded to pour it on the woman's head, Hale said. The bleach also hit a child sitting in the woman's shopping cart, Hale added.

Mason fled before police arrived, he said. Both the woman and the child were treated for non-life-threatening injuries at Wilmington Hospital, Hale said.

Mason was taken to Baylor Women's Correctional Institution near New Castle after failing to post $25,000 secured bail.

Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.