Surveillance video shows Lantana chainsaw attack suspect struggle with police officer

Juan Carlos Cabrera Jr. arrested after using chainsaw as weapon to cut woman

LANTANA, Fla. – Shortly after he attacked a woman with a chainsaw, Juan Carlos Cabrera Jr. attacked a Lantana police officer who tried to give him something to eat while he was in a holding cell.

Surveillance video obtained Friday shows Cabrera lunge at the officer after he opened the door.

Cabrera, 20, was standing in the doorway of the cell when the officer entered, holding a granola bar and another snack in his hand.

Instead of taking the snacks, Cabrera attacked the officer, hitting him in the face with the cell key's wooden handle.

Another officer entered the room to help subdue Cabrera while a third officer stood outside the door and stunned him with a Taser gun.

The video shows the officers eventually take Cabrera to the floor while they restrain him.

Cabrera was arrested after Tuesday morning's chainsaw attack near the Super 8 motel on Hypoluxo Road in Lantana.

According to a Lantana police report, Marie Geffrard, 64, was out for her morning walk when she saw a man carrying a chainsaw. She assumed he was trimming trees and walked past the entrance to the motel when the man, later identified as Cabrera, "started hitting her and cutting her with the chainsaw."

Cabrera remained at the scene when police arrived.

After his arrest, Cabrera was questioned by Officer Thomas Dipolito, who asked him why he attacked Geffrard.

Cabrera said he lives with his mother in Lake Worth but decided to get away and spend the night, Dipolito wrote in the report. Cabrera told Dipolito he was lying in bed and the chemicals inside his brain went off.

"He couldn't explain if anything triggered it," Dipolito wrote.

Cabrera said he got the chainsaw from his father and had it in the trunk of his car, so he got it out, cranked it up and walked toward the sidewalk, where he spotted Geffrard.

He said Geffrard was "the target most attractive to his eyes," Dipolito wrote.

Cabrera explained that "it was just an attack" and that he wanted to end her life, but the chainsaw "got jammed up," Dipolito wrote.

Dipolito said surveillance video from the motel showed Cabrera randomly attacking Geffrard.

Cabrera faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, drug possession and aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer.