California man who spray-painted face with Raiders colors charged with killing hardware clerk

SAN FRANCISCO — Daymond Agnew told investigators that his Sunday began when he heard a voice from Allah telling him to go to a California hardware store to help people.

They said it ended when Agnew spray-painted his face with the silver and black colors of the Oakland Raiders and stabbed a store clerk to death after he complained.

Agnew, 34, was charged on Monday with murder and was being held in lieu of $1.6 million bail after authorities said he went on a bizarre, deadly trip to the store in El Sobrante, a suburb about 20 miles northeast of San Francisco.

Agnew walked to the back of the store, where he spray-painted his face because Allah favors that football team, "or words to that effect," Contra Costa County deputy district attorney Marty Knox said.

He appeared to grow angry when the clerk, Daniel Joseph Stone, 51, told co-workers to call 911, Knox said.

Stone's colleagues initially thought Stone was being struck with fists because they couldn't see a knife. But the scene quickly turned bloody, and Stone fled through the store and fell down outside, where the attack continued, Knox said.

Stone was pronounced dead after suffering 17 stab wounds.

Knox said the attacker fled across a creek to the backyard of Richard Oliver, the owner of the hardware store, then scooped up the family dog and went inside the house.

Family members fled and flagged down a sheriff's deputy responding to the 911 call. Authorities said Agnew was found in the house, dressed in a bloody hoodie, as he stooped over a bloody folding knife.

Contra Costa County Public Defender Robin Lipetzky said her office is representing Agnew, but she declined comment.

Agnew's aunt, Rita Fortson of St. Petersburg, Fla., told the Contra Costa Times that Agnew had recently converted to Islam.

"None of us believe he would just walk into a store and stab someone," she said. "We just think something might have snapped."

Sacramento County court records show Agnew was sentenced to short jail sentences for two separate misdemeanor convictions for a gun violation and illegal use of an access card in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Agnew also told investigators that he walked last week from his Sacramento home to a relative's house in Hercules, a trip of about 60 miles. He spent Saturday night at a relative's home before awakening on Sunday and trekking to the hardware store, Knox said.