A 23-year-old man has been charged after thousands of pounds of damage was caused to businesses in a town centre.
Police gave chase after a topless man went on a rampage with a fire extinguisher through King Street, Maidstone, on Sunday (May 11).
Officers were called to a break-in at Sainsbury’s supermarket in Romney Place around 7.45pm where “extensive damage” was caused to the store’s windows.
The force then responded to further reports of damage caused to other businesses.
It is alleged the suspect threw a fire extinguisher at officers, which damaged their vehicle.
Callum Packman, of no fixed address, was arrested and later charged with 11 counts of criminal damage.
He was also charged with two counts of assaulting an emergency worker, a public order offence and burglary.
He was remanded in custody to appear before Medway Magistrates’ Court today (May 13).
Yesterday morning (May 12), shoppers told KentOnline the town centre looked like a “warzone” in the aftermath of the attacks.
The Mall shopping centre was impacted, as was restaurants Kokoro and the Real Eating Company.
Other businesses allegedly targeted were PureGym and the Knight Edmonds and Page & Wells estate agents.
The Real Eating Co issued a further statement today (May 13) saying it has had to take the “incredibly difficult” decision to “cease trading temporarily”.
Its operations director, Leon King, said they were doing “everything we can to bounce back quickly”.
He added: “Maidstone is an amazing community that always pulls together in times of need and we are really sorry for the other businesses affected by this too.
“We have boarded up the shop while we await repairs on Thursday morning and, all being well, we will reopen this Friday morning (May 16).
“To say thank you for the community’s patience and to lift our team’s spirits, we’re running a special buy one get one free on all handcrafted drinks on Friday only and buy one get one free on our breakfasts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
