A random act of violence at a Punta Gorda Publix on Saturday has brought a 2025 case back into focus. Deputies say Ramsey Thomas Lyons, 47, attacked a 70-year-old man with a box cutter, cutting him from his left cheek down to his neck. At his first appearance Sunday, a judge denied bond. He is due back in court Nov. 16.
The details hit close to home because records show this is not Lyons’ first unprovoked attack on a stranger. In March 2025, he punched 16-year-old Gavin Gentry in the face at a Port Charlotte Wawa. He was charged with battery in that case and graduated from mental health court in July. Gavin’s mother, Shawna, told reporters she feared back then that he could hurt someone else. “The mother in me is upset that the courts didn’t listen to a minor and what it may have caused him,” she said. Gavin’s own memory of that day still lingers: he recalled thinking that in that moment, he could have died.
Charlotte County neighbors are now asking hard questions about how mental health court outcomes are monitored and whether warning signs from a teenage victim’s family should carry more weight. No system is perfect, but a grocery store aisle in Punta Gorda and a Wawa counter in Port Charlotte are the kinds of places where everyone should feel safe. What would you want to see change after this case? Let us know in the comments.
