Machete-wielding cinnamon bun bandit caught mid-snack

ASHEVILLE (WLOS) — North Carolina police arrested and charged a man connected to an armed robbery with a machete that took place at an Asheville grocery store on the evening of Monday, March 31.

Officers with the Asheville Police Department responded to the 600 block of Haywood Road around 5:25 p.m. Monday to investigate the robbery. Upon arrival, a store employee told officers that a man had stolen a cinnamon bun and incense. When confronted, the man displayed a machete before running away, police said.

Officers quickly located the suspect, who matched the description and was eating a cinnamon bun, police said.

The suspect was identified as Jeffrey Dewayne Bradburn, 33, who was then taken into custody.

Bradburn is charged with the following:

  • Robbery with dangerous weapon
  • Shoplifting concealment goods
  • Possession of drug paraphernalia

Bradburn was booked into the Buncombe County Detention Facility under a $50,000 secured bond.

By MARISA SARDONIA/WLOS

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John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.