A random stabbing at the Publix on Tamiami Trail in Punta Gorda has put a spotlight on a suspect’s earlier run-in with the law just a few miles away. Deputies say Ramsey Thomas Lyons, 47, cut a 70-year-old man with a box cutter at the Publix, leaving a wound that ran from the man’s left cheek down to his neck. A judge denied Lyons bond at his first appearance Sunday, and he is due back in court November 16.
The story goes back to March 2025, when Lyons allegedly walked up to 16-year-old Gavin Gentry inside a Port Charlotte Wawa and punched him in the face without saying a word. Lyons was charged with battery in that case and completed mental health court in July. Gavin’s mother, Shawna, told reporters she’s upset that the courts didn’t take her son’s story seriously, and she wonders whether the later attack could have been prevented.
The Publix and the Wawa are only a few miles apart, both sitting on the same everyday errand routes for families across Charlotte County. That proximity is part of what’s fueling questions about how repeat random attackers move through mental health court and back into the community. What do you think should change about how these cases are handled?
