Forest Fair Village security guard threatened woman with knife
FOREST PARK, Ohio Sept 29 2021 A security guard is accused of threatening a woman with a knife. Edmund Cunningham faces an aggravated menacing charge.
Cunningham is a security guard at Cincinnati Mall, which is the former Forest Fair Mall.
A woman told police that he pulled out a large knife and yelled at her to “get the f*** out of here” in the mall parking lot. He also told her he had a gun “while aggressively approaching her,” according to court papers.
The incident was reportedly caught on video.
In 2018, the same man was convicted on animal cruelty charges after investigators said he admitted to killing kittens and storing them in his freezer.
The woman who went to explore the mall said she was fascinated as she and a friend explored the nearly empty space, but the excitement quickly turned to fear.
“I think that I made a very huge risk going to that mall with that man inside there,” Mary Chambers said.
Chambers said she and a friend were drawn to the Cincinnati Mall, now known as Forest Fair Village, last Tuesday. She wanted to see what she calls a “dead mall” with barely any stores left.
“It’s really. It’s a really nice place. It’s just sad, eerie, you know,” Chambers said.
But she said a few photographs of stores past, angered Edmund Cunningham, a man police said is a security guard. His anger was apparent in video captured by Chambers.
“Oh yeah. Try to block the license plate, (expletive),” Cunningham said in the video.
“We’re not doing anything. Get the (expletive) away from my car,” Chambers said in the video.
Chambers said Cunningham followed them and berated them telling them to leave even pulling a knife.
“I also got a gun,” Cunningham said in the video.
He also shouted at Chambers in the video.
Another woman told us he also confronted her for taking photos. For Chambers, the encounter is worse than any shopping trip could have been.
“I’ll crush that (expletive) phone out of your hands,” Cunningham said in the video.
“Why was he employed there? They have to know that he had done what he done in the past,” Chambers said.
Cunningham is out on an OR bond, online court records show. He is charged with aggravated menacing.
According to police, Cunningham said he ran out of medication and his paranoia surfaced. He also told police the knife he had was not real, but for training.
We tried to get in touch with his attorney, but we have not heard back.
WLWT also tried to contact management and security offices for the mall. The numbers rang without any answer and it appears there is no way to leave a message.
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